Excerpted with permission from The First Responders, by the Reliance Foundation and the Observer Research Foundation, this article shares the story of Savita Mahto. Born in Puruliya, West Bengal to a schoolteacher, this 43-year-old has overcome many obstacles in life, especially after she moved to Gurugram, Haryana, after getting married. This excerpt focuses on the incredible bravery and humane work done by Mahto, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The family fell upon hard times when Shyam [Mahto] lost his job in 2015 and there was virtually no income to run the household. As luck would have it, representatives of the humanitarian organisation, World Vision visited her area, looking to train women who have had schooling, to counselling and raise awareness on a range of public health issues such as reproductive health, immunisation, family planning, pregnancy, and childcare. As a mother herself, Savita found these issues highly relevant. As the National Family Health Survey has found, as of 2019-21, Haryana has one of the lowest awareness rates among expectant mothers on issues such as the need for 31 antenatal visits (45.1 percent).
Savita knew the task would not be easy. “Openly discussing sex or the use of a condom is considered shameless in our society.” Fully aware of the possibility of becoming the subject of people's ire, Savita threw herself enthusiastically into World Vision's training programme. Always an avid learner, within three years, she was thoroughly conversant with the fundamentals of healthcare advocacy. Today she cannot help but talk about the support she received from her family, including the men who were more “progressive” than their peers. “My father and husband applauded my efforts to work for the community. That was deeply motivating.”
As Savita's work expanded, she started working with Smile Foundation as part of its programme to promote maternal and reproductive health, sharing lessons with expectant mothers on how to lead a healthier life. Along with a few other women in her neighbourhood, Savita worked to sensitise the community about what reproductive health entailed—meaning that it was not only the women who needed to be counselled, but the men, too. “Why should the burden of family planning be shouldered by womenfolk alone?”
Home to almost 8.71 lakh inhabitants, Gurugram has a sex ratio of 854 females to 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 32 79.5 percent among women. Nonetheless, social norms remain conservative, and Savita was not surprised to find the women in her area being reticent with the very idea of talking about sexual health with their husbands. “Some of the men would get angry when their wives tried to broach the topic.”
She decided to speak to the husbands herself. She called them on the phone or visited the family in the evening, and always, she was careful with her words. “Some of them would try to avoid me on one pretext or another,” Savita recalls with a laugh. She did not give up, though, and eventually found that most of the men were open to conversation and would even have sensible questions about family planning and sexual health. As part of their campaign, Savita and her group distributed condoms to the couples.
Soon enough, the work of Savita, her group, and Smile Foundation caught the attention of the local Anganwadi Kendras or centres providing care for mothers and young children in rural areas. The Kendras began to integrate their work, such as the immunisation programme for newborns and regular antenatal check-ups for expectant mothers, and bringing them from their homes to hospitals located at a distance. Over the years, Savita has continued to receive
training from the Smile Foundation, and has volunteered as well as taken up paid work on their projects.
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that Savita and her group have met with in recent years is the lockdown that was implemented as the first wave of Covid-19 broke out in March 2020. “The chaos that followed threatened to disrupt all our interventions.” At the same time, she knew that it was precisely amidst the massive crisis that their help was needed most. The outbreak—and the consequent restrictions on movement—affected pregnant women, who could not reach hospitals for their antenatal 33 visit or delivery, nor access the medicines they needed. The marked reduction in medical care and attention for pregnant women had negative physical and psychological effects on them.
The experiences of these women in Savita's district were multiplied many times over at that time. In Gurugram, for example, the city initially saw 60 cases of Covid-19 infections in the early part of the outbreak. The cases quickly began to increase, and by the end of 2020, the whole of Surat Nagar Phase 2 was reeling from the pandemic.
Savita and her group set out to ensure access to basic medicines for expectant mothers who were unable to reach local hospitals. She went about the city—immobilised by the restrictions on movement—day after day to help expectant mothers and provide supplies, care, counselling and support. She helped at least 10 women by arranging emergency ambulances and reaching them to the hospital amidst the lockdown so that they could deliver their baby. Keeping aside the challenges faced by women during the lockdown, Savita's efforts also helped in raising awareness about the importance of institutional deliveries. Over the years, Haryana has fared better on this index. In 2019-2021, the state recorded 94.9 percent institutional births; in pre-pandemic times 34 (2015-16), these figures stood at 80.4 per cent. To some extent, it was women like Savita who made this possible.
However, it was not just these women who were in Savita's mind then. Her husband, Shyam, had suffered a serious spinal disorder around March 2020 and his condition was deteriorating with each passing day. Braving all risks to herself and her family, she left home every day to distribute Covid kits to affected families. She was called a “braveheart”; she knew she was only doing what she needed to do.
Food insecurity also gripped Savita's community as the lockdown prolonged. Focusing on the pregnant women, she counselled their families – particularly their mothers-in-law – about providing a nutritious diet to the expectant mother. She would personally conduct follow-up visits to these households, too.
In July 2021, tragedy struck Savita's own family. Shyam underwent spinal surgery in the hands of a local doctor; the doctor botched the procedure, resulting in Shyam's untimely death. Losing her husband of 24 years broke Savita's spirit. “I was angry with the whole world.” Bringing herself to heal, Savita soon learnt that such bitterness would not bring Shyam back. “He would want me to keep working for all those women,” she says today.
Savita's concern for her community has made her a much-loved figure in Surat Nagar. People call her at all hours for advice—be it about giving birth in a hospital, whether or not to take the Covid-19 vaccine, or simply about what a good diet should be. “It makes me proud when people ask me for guidance. I think of it as an achievement for my entire family.”
As night falls over Surat Nagar and the sounds of the neighbourhood fade into silence, Savita turns off the kitchen light. She understands the enormity of the task before her. The lack of awareness about reproductive and maternal health is still rampant, and a major shift in attitudes and behaviour is needed. But Savita remains optimistic. For now, it is time to get some rest.
(Written by Swati Prabhu. For more on Mahto and the other women heroes from around the country, read: Jayashree B, Sunaina Kumar, Anirban Sarma, Vanita Sharma, and Shoba Suri, Eds., The First Responders: Women Who Led India Through the Pandemic.)