In the US, schools can double as shelters and voting centers. In India, I saw a very different use for schools. The Public Health Research Institute of India (PHRII) converts a rural primary school classroom into a cervical cancer screening room. While women got their information taken, children scampered about on their first day back from holiday. The scene was an interesting combination of the chaotic and lackadaisical play of children contrasted with the clinical precision of necessary care, but spoke to the level of resourcefulness needed to meet the needs of rural women.
Participating in the cervical cancer screening camp allowed me to understand the work that goes into bridging the access gap between care recipients and caregivers. As of 2021, 65 percent of Indians lived in rural areas (The World Bank). This contrasts greatly with 17 percent of Americans living in rural areas in that same year. Globally, 44 percent of people live in rural areas. This raises concerns about how to relay proper care to those who cannot easily access it on their own. Resolving this issue requires both creativity and ingenuity on the part of healthcare workers to adequately serve these populations.
It is also important to note that gender plays a large role in the reception of care. According to Basu, women are less likely to receive preventative care in a timely fashion, and in general as well (2022). When this is partnered with the fact that many women live in rural areas, it can have strong negative implications on the health of a woman. It’s for these reasons that the work PHRII does is not only important, but lifesaving.
In order to run a successful cervical screening camp among rambunctious children, the women at work needed to not only monitor their own work but also possess a firm but flexible attitude toward their environment. One might go from clearing children from a restricted area to hopping right back into a specific train of thought. During the camp, PHRII founder Dr. Madhivanan and two ashas were interviewed by my classmates and I. This required us to proactively find an appropriate space away from the children as well as – for lack of a better term – guard the interview space to ensure that there were no disturbances. In addition to the ability to multitask, caregivers in such an environment are faced with the task of packing prudently. It is important to know exactly what necessities must be brought without overpacking and bogging down the workers who must set up. The set up itself requires creativity for determining what areas would be best for repurposing into a waiting room and screening rooms.
Inevitably, the skills required to go bring the screening room to the patients are one that can benefit all healthcare practitioners, even those who are not mobile. It requires a patient first focus and an adeptness that I wish to emulate in my own future practice as a counselor.
Basu, J. (2022, June 10). Research on disparities in primary health care in rural versus urban areas: Select perspectives. International journal of environmental research and public health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9222532/
The World Bank . (n.d.). Rural population (% of total population). World Bank Open Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS
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