My name is Seema Bali and I’m from India. For 11 years, I have lived as a care giver to my husband with renal disease and have developed Psoriasis and mental health myself. The formative years of my 10 and 15 year-old kids were spent in agony and the burden of financial crunch.
I'm sharing my story because I want to voice the concerns of my journey and those of others who are going through the same trauma. The patient, care giver and the entire family goes through a roller coaster ride. We have to search our own way through these dark times. All these can be achieved if the policy makers heed to the concerns of people living with multiple non communicable diseases and enable every individual to live their life to the fullest. Physical, Mental, emotional, social well beings are being crushed under the burden of insecurity and uncertainty. There is "hope" to make situations better if our voices are heard and we all constructively equip stakeholders with more rights to cope with unpredictable situations. Unprecedented COVID-19 times are a reflection to the lacking of blueprint to face calamities during health crisis.
28 May 2021
When the going gets tough, the tough get going
My story is from the heart of what my family faced. It is the amalgamation of upheavals, experiences, lessons learnt, etc. and with conviction demanding the need for putting the healthcare sector in place. It's not much, it is basic human right to live a secured life. Are we defining health in our communities in tandem to the holistic definition stated by WHO? The answer is a big NO. There is a great divide between stakeholders and policy makers.
21 July 2021
The Insider's Story
Pallavi Saxena is a single parent to Krishnav who is 15 years old. He is suffering from respiratory and mental health issues. Pallavi lost her husband to COVID-19 a couple of months back. She is going through insecurity and uncertainty about various issues but her prime concern is organising finances to cope with medical conditions. Pallavi's future journey looks like a roller coaster ride. Only if universal health coverage was in place, then many like Pallavi would have had a peaceful life. What can we do together to salvage the situation? In the next series, we'll meet the representatives of CSO and policymakers.
11 August 2021
Together we win
We all have stories to share and experiences to learn from. It becomes so enriching when we share our experiences with others and vice versa. We feel empowered by the fact that there are so many commonalities and therefore from 'me', we become 'us'. When we are together in a journey, our paths cross with each other; we feel the integrity, respect and dignity. Everybody's strengths, capacities and potential add up to bring a constructive change. That's exactly what we have tried to do in this podcast. Together we stand and divided we fall.
NCD Diaries
For 11 years, I have lived as a care giver to my husband with renal disease and have developed Psoriasis and mental health myself. I'm sharing my story because I want to voice the concerns of my journey and those of others who are going through the same trauma. The patient, care giver and the entire family goes through a roller coaster ride. We have to search our own way through these dark times.
Seema Bali, lived experience of multiple chronic conditions, India
About NCD DIARIES
The NCD Diaries use rich and immersive multimedia approaches to share lived experiences to drive change, using a public narrative framework.
