Jharana Kumari Tharu – female community health volunteer in Binauna village
November 19, 2013 – Binauna village, Banke (Nepal). Jharana Kumari Tharu dresses her up with the blue sari that identities the female health volunteers. Jharana is a 23-year-old female community health volunteer in Binauna village, in Nepal’s Banke District. As part of her training, she councils expectant mothers and their families on how to properly care for an infant’s umbilical cord after birth, which includes applying a chlorahexidine antiseptic gel on the stump. This simple life-saving intervention, which is supported by USAID and partner JSI throughout Nepal, has been shown to reduce infant mortality by roughly one third.