Monday 28 December 2015

Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Christmas


Links Between Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) and Malnutrition







Links Between Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) and Malnutrition

It is becoming clearer as time goes on that two of the worst problems plaguing impoverished communities around the world are interrelated: malnutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are often treated as separate issues, but increasing evidence is emerging suggesting that an unsanitary environment can in fact be one of the leading causes of malnutrition among children and adults alike.

The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 50% of malnutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections as a result of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene[1]. These figures are enormous, especially when one considers that such diseases are often preventable by the simple act of handwashing. As stated in a report by Action Against Hunger, handwashing with soap reduces the risk of contracting a diarrheic infection by around 47%, which could prevent the deaths of up to 1 million children a year[2].

These statistics highlight the importance of WASH programmes and initiatives across the globe, and show us that it is through by the simplest of actions that we can begin to make a truly significant change.

Look out for our upcoming crowdfunding campaign, where we will be raising funds to carry out our WASH programme in four underprivileged schools.Click Here To Make A Contribution 

Click Here To Make A Contribution : https://goo.gl/icvZ6l





[1]Source: 2013: Pugh, Velleman ‘Undernutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene’;(n.p.) wateraid.org
[2] Source: 2005, rev. 2007: Departement Technique A.C.F. Interactions of: Malnutrition, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Infections; (p.4) http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/sites/default/files/publications/Malnutrition_-_WASH_-_infections_English.pdf Last accessed 17/12/15

Tuesday 22 December 2015

WASH in Schools: Fundraising Event For A Cleaner, Healthier India Spread Support Share

Click below link to visit the page:
https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/wash-in-schools-for-a-cleaner-healthier-india











PHOTO: Clean water should be a right for everyone in India      

Take a moment and think about washing your hands. Think about getting a glass of water, flushing the toilet, taking a shower, brushing your teeth… These are all things that most of us consider pretty essential to maintaining good personal hygiene, right? 

Now imagine that you were born into different circumstances. 
Imagine that the only water you had was brownish, muddy groundwater that made you ill when you drank it.
Imagine there was no way of washing your hands before eating except by rinsing them in that same infected muddy water; imagine that instead of a toilet, you just had to pick a spot in a patch of wasteland and hope that no venomous animals (or people) decided to rudely interrupt your business.

This is what life is like for millions of people in India’s most marginalised communities every single day. But with your help, we can change this.
In India, diarrhoea alone causes more than 1,600 deaths every 24 hours. At the root of this, more often than not, are unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices and facilities.

Our solution to this unfortunate situation is our WASH in Schools Project, a small-scale, grassroots campaign with that will have a big impact. A pilot program has been initiated in a few schools to test it and the reaction and feedback has been outstanding. But funding is now crucial to continue this amazing work.

This project will focus on four schools: two located in rural villages, and two in marginalised communities within the city (slums).
PHOTO: Open sewers and rubbish dumps are a common sight in rural areas and slums

It aims to:
a) Raise awareness around safe hygiene practices through workshops and other educational activities. This will involve first educating children about routine hygiene measures (hand-washing, drinking filtered water…) and how these can be implemented as a part of their everyday lives (boiling water before use, homemade water filters, how to find and use naturally-occurring disinfectants…). As well as this, we will hold specific focus groups on menstrual hygiene as this is often a problematic area for women, especially young girls (see below). The hope and part of the process is to take this learning back home to their families to help educate them too.

b) Distribute sanitation kits and supplies to the students. These include essentials such as soap, sanitary pads, hand sanitiser, toothbrushes and mosquito coils. Depending on funding and your support, some or all will also contain stationery (pen, pencil, sharpener, eraser, notebook...). In addition to this, we aim to provide each school with at least one non-electric water purifier, to allow children access to safe drinking water during school hours. We can only achieve this with your help.

A recurring theme throughout the project will be menstrual hygiene and the importance of education for girls. Our aim is to help girls complete their education in the best possibleconditions by informing and educating them and their families on their needs (hygienic and otherwise) and rights, whilst enabling girls to blossom and grow into empowered members of India's society.

PHOTO: Some activities and workshops

REWARDS
                          ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
As you may have noticed, the rewards we offer won’t physically go to the donor (other than a huge thank you on our site and facebook page and an  e-greetings card, because you definitely deserve something). This is because we feel that our resources will be better spent on the people we are reaching out to with the Programme: the schools we’ll be visiting are located in really underprivileged areas, and some don’t even have things like desks and blackboards, let alone things like coloured pens and pencils to do creative activities with.
Consequently, instead of sending you rewards, we'll be giving them to the kids. Simple. We can’t usually afford to offer the children little ‘extras’ like this, and we hope you are as happy as we are that this crowdfunding project will give us the chance to do just that :) All donations will be made in the backer’s name, and you’ll get a picture of your gift in action.
So go on, do something nice this Christmas, share the ♥ ♥ ♥, your gifts will help put a smile on a child's face. 

WHO WE ARE
                                                  
We are HEEALS(Health, Education, Environment and Livelihood Society), avibrant Indian non-profit aiming at building a self-sustained society in India, by empowering local communities with education, awareness and basic skills.
                                                       
We are registered under Section 21 of 1860 Society Act with the Government of India, and most of our work is based on volunteering.
                                                       
We particularly focus on children and we work a lot with schools in local villages and rural areas. We believe thateducation is a gift that can change children’s lives, and we deliver our messages through interactive activities such as Wall Painting, Posters Drawing, Drama, group and one to one discussions… ways that give children a real part to play in the betterment of their own lives. We plan to create international awareness about sanitation, menstrual hygiene, toilets and unsafe drinking water, and its effect on female education and health.
In particular we want to target those living in rural areas, urban slums, refugee camps and orphanages. Alongside our awareness campaign, we also want to ensure that communities are equipped to tackle these issues by providing things such as water purification tablets, water tanks, soap and sanitary towels for young girls.



PROPOSED BUDGET AND OUR SCHEDULE
In order to limit disruption to ordinary school schedules as much as possible, our WASH awareness program will take the form of a series of activities spread over a 5-day period in each school.
An Example of a School Project Schedule:
DAY ONE - Handwash awareness and information class (1 HOUR)
DAY TWO - Handwash drama workshop (1 hour)
DAY THREE - Menstrual hygiene awareness and information class (1 Hour - girls only)
DAY FOUR - Menstrual hygiene workshop - how to make safe homemade sanitary pads + anonymous Q&A session. (1 Hour - girls only)
DAY FIVE - Recap session with all students and distribution of sanitary kits (approx. 1Hour)

Cost Breakdown                                                        
Sanitation kit*
Rs 600 - 1000 / $9 - $15 per unit
Water Purifier
approx Rs 1600 / $24 per unit
Soap Bar
Rs 10 - 20 / $0.15 - 0.30 per unit
Sanitary pads (6 pack)
Rs 35 / $0.50 per pack

YOUR DONATIONS AND SPONSORSHIPS WILL BE CRUCIAL
TO ACHIEVING OUR OBJECTIVES

PHOTO: Some basic sanitation kits

*CONTENTS OF SANITATION KIT – the contents of sanitation kit will vary depending on funds and local demand

Sanitary items:
1 x soap bar
1 x sanitary pad pack
1 x toothpaste
1 x toothbrush
1 x mosquito coil
1 x hand sanitizer
1 x shampoo sachet
5 x WASH educational posters
1 x menstrual hygiene booklet (for girls)

Stationery:
1 x pencil
1 x pen
1 x eraser
1 x sharpener
1 x notebook
1 x envelope
tape
glue

A little goes a long way towards helping us! For just $1, you could supply a girl with enough pads to see her through her next period. For $9, the price of a cinema ticket, you could provide a child with a full sanitary kit for the next three months.
At the moment, we need just Rs 167000,00 / $2500 in order to fund WASH in Schools in the four schools identified for the project (reaching around 1,000 students).
All of the money raised on this crowdfunding page will godirectly to the project (including transport and logistics costs), and will allow us to impact the villages on a long-term basis by making sure that we not only carry out the project to its full extent, but are also able to return to the villages at a later date for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
If we do not raise the full $2500 of funding, we will do what we can with what the little we have and with the dedication of volunteers. For example by restricting our project to two schools instead of four. In the event of this scenario, our backers will of course be informed in detail about the changes, and will be provided with precise information about where their donation is going.


Some of our other work to raise awareness
                           
Films:
An End To the Darkness: Roshni Teaser:
Hand washing in the Himalayas:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1VofggymC0
The Role of Sanitation in Menstrual Hygiene:https://vimeo.com/58771979

Press:
*“Dealing effectively with the water and sanitation crisis is fundamental to fighting disease and poverty.”:http://heeals.blogspot.in/2013/09/dealing-effec...
* SURVEY REPORT 2012 :
Other reports available upon request.

You can help us by many ways : by contributing financially to our project budget, then by spreading the word to your family and friends (sharing this page, or talking about our action), or even by volunteering!
Let’s meet on our website: http://heeals.org/ or Like our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Heeals or follow and tweet with us: https://twitter.com/heeals

THANKS FOR DONATING - HELP US MAKE A CHANGE
HELP US TO SPREAD THE WORD

Monday 7 December 2015

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink'
As you may have heard, Chennai and its surrounding region has been hit by the worst flooding for 100 years, leaving hundreds dead, thousands homeless and more than 3 million people cut off from basic services like electricity, food and water.
To show our solidarity with the people of Chennai, Heeals would like to make a large donation of safe, clean drinking water. This donation will not only be necessary during the floods, but also in their aftermath, when the risk of contamination and water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis A will be extremely high.
However, we cannot do this alone. We need your help in order to make a significant donation that will really make an impact. It is thanks to your support that we can continue to achieve our aim of providing safe, hygienic drinking water to those most in need.
A 500ml bottle of water costs ₹10 ; a 1 litre bottle costs ₹20 and a 2 litre bottle costs ₹30.
Please visit the Heeals website (http://heeals.org/ContactUs) or Email communications@heeals.org for more information on how to donate.
Thank you!

Wednesday 25 November 2015

"Orange the World’ To End Violence Against Women And Girls


To End Violence Against Women And Girls







View full infographic
A staggering one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime—a pandemic of global proportions. Unlike an illness, however, perpetrators and even entire societies choose to commit violence—and can choose to stop. Violence is not inevitable. It can be prevented. But it’s not as straightforward as eradicating a virus. There is no vaccine, medication or cure. And there is no one single reason for why it happens.
As such, prevention strategies should be holistic, with multiple interventions undertaken in parallel in order to have long-lasting and permanent effects. Many sectors, actors and stakeholders need to be engaged. More evidence is emerging on what interventions work to prevent violence—from community mobilization to change social norms, to comprehensive school interventions targeting staff and pupils, to economic empowerment and income supplements coupled with gender equality training.
Prevention is the 2015 theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November and of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign’s 16 days call for action. This year, at the official commemoration at UN Headquarters in New York, the first UN Framework on Preventing Violence against Women will be launched and discussed (ECOSOC Chamber; 10 a.m.–12 noon). This document stems from the collaboration of seven UN entities: UN Women, ILO, OHCHR, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA and WHO. The framework develops a common understanding for the UN System, policymakers and other stakeholders on preventing violence against women and provides a theory of change to underpin action.

16 days to “Orange the world”


From 25 November through 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence aim to raise public awareness and mobilizing people everywhere to bring about change. This year, the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign invites you to “Orange the world,” using the colour designated by the UNiTE campaign to symbolize a brighter future without violence


From parades to soccer matches, school debates, and the lighting up of hundreds of iconic monuments, starting tomorrow a United Nations call to “Orange the World” will galvanize global action calling for an end to violence against women and girls, which according to the UN’s agency for gender equality (UN Women) affects one in three worldwide.Violence against women and girls remains one of the most serious – and the most tolerated – human rights violations.
It is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and discrimination. Its continued presence is one of the clearest markers of societies out of balance and we are determined to change that.The call to action is part of the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, led by UN Women. The colour orange, which has come to symbolize a bright and optimistic future free from violence against women and girls, will help unify the large-scale social mobilization.
It will be carried out during the civil society-driven 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which run from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until 10 December, Human Rights Day.
This year’s ‘Orange the World” initiative will focus on the theme of preventing violence against women and girls, in the specific context of the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which includes targets on ending violence against women and girls.
UN Women announced that coinciding with the 16 days of Activism, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka will undertake visits to three continents highlighting the urgent need for efforts to address the pandemic of violence at all levels – from global to the local – as well as across all sections of society, during high-profile events in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Spain and Turkey.
Meanwhile, the official commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in New York will also see the launch of a landmark “UN Framework to Underpin Action to Prevent Violence against Women,” jointly developed by a number of UN entities.
“The focus must now be on prevention, and although there is no single solution to such a complex problem, there is growing evidence of the range of actions that can stop violence before it happens. This comprehensive approach forms the core of the new framework developed by UN Women and our partner agencies,” Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka explained.
According to UN Women, there has been some progress over the last few decades; today 125 countries have laws against sexual harassment and 119 against domestic violence, but only 52 countries on marital rape.
The agency warned that despite efforts, violence against women and girls continues in every country, with women being beaten in their homes, harassed on the streets and bullied on the Internet. UN Women stressed that preventing and ending violence means tackling its root cause, gender inequality.
To this end, the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a goal dedicated to gender equality—Goal 5—which aims to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls. It recognizes violence against women as an obstacle to fully achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and provides comprehensive indicators on what should be done to address that goal.


   Come Join Us To End The Violence Against Women & Girls 





India set to become water scarce country by 2025: Report

Although India is set to become water scarce country by 2025 due to demand-supply mis-match
the water sector is expected to see investment of USD 13 billion from overseas players in the next few years, a new study has said.

"India's demand for water is expected to exceed all current sources of supply and the country is set to become water scarce country by 2025
India's demand for water is expected to exceed all current sources of supply and the country is set to become water scarce country by 2025
"With increasing household income and increasing contributions from the service and industrial sectors, the water demand in the domestic and industrial sectors increasing substantially," says a study conducted by EA Water, a leading consulting firm in water sector.

Nearly 70 per cent of country's irrigation and 80 per cent of domestic water use comes from groundwater, which is rapidly getting depleted.

However, overseas players from Canada, Israel, Germany, Italy, United States, China and Belgium sees big investment opportunity worth USD 13 billion in the domestic water sector.

The industry is expected to receive Rs 18,000 crore in the next three years, the report said.

India set to become water scarce country by 2025: Report
India is set to become water scarce country by 2025 due to demand-supply mis-match, the water sector is expected to see investment of USD 13 billion from overseas players in the next few years, a new study has said.    

Source:TOI

Govt mulls Europe-style water law to save resource



NEW DELHI: Concerned by the future projections of water availability in India, thegovernment is mulling the legislation route to save the scarce resource from depleting any further. It plans to come out with a new draft National Water Framework Bill - on the lines of the one in effect in Europe - and improvising on the existing draft law of 2013.



A detailed presentation on the WFD and its comparison with India's existing water framework were made at the first Indo-European water forum here on Monday. Experts from both India and EU nations at the forum emphasized that if the 28 different nations can jointly work on the issue of water resources, it can also be adopted with modifications by India's 29 states by evolving a common law that takes care of the country's water resources.

"The Centre will come out with new draft national framework legislation. Discussions and consultations at different levels are going on. But, it's a long drawn process. Since water is a state subject, there has to be a political consensus before moving on this path", said Union water resources secretary Shashi Shekhar.



Experts at the forum noted that the European Water Policy, centering on management at the river basin level and integrating water management, presents a "viable model for cooperation between EU and India at the national and state level".

The European Commission's director-general for environment, Daniel Calleja Crespo, told TOI that the EU has a very broad experience in successfully managing water resources in 28 nations and the cooperation could be helpful as both EU and India have many similarities.

"We have our Water Framework Directive (WFD) and it has been now operational for 15 years. We have developed some specific legislation to manage water in river basins for 500 million people. EU has 28 member states. We have rivers crossing different boundaries. I think the cooperation will provide a win-win situation, based on mutual benefits", said Crespo.

The EU and its member states have divided the river basins and associated coastal areas into 110 river basin districts, 40 of which are international and cross borders, covering about 60% of the EU territory. The European WFD obliges member states to draw up river basin management plans to safeguard each of the 110 river basin districts.

Referring to the European Water Policy, the minister of state for water resources Sanwar Lal Jat, in his address to the forum said it presents a viable mode for cooperation between the EU and India. He, however, emphasized that this framework could be used by India with suitable modifications as "source of inspiration" to integrate water resources development and management amongst the states.



Source : TOI

Thursday 19 November 2015

World Toilet Day 19th November

                                                      World Toilet Day 19th November 




  

Friday 16 October 2015

Friday 9 October 2015

"ROSHNI - An End Of The Darkness" - Teaser



We release the teaser of "ROSHNI -An End Of The Darkness "


Join Us at : communications@heeals.org

Web : www.heeals.org

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/Heeals

Twitter : https://twitter.com/heeals

Fight Against Dengue

Dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever, is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.

Dengue has become a global problem since the Second World War and is endemic in more than 110 countries. Apart from eliminating the mosquitoes, work is ongoing on a dengue vaccine. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally aegypti. The virus has five different types infection with one type usually gives lifelong immunity to that type, but only short-term immunity to the others. As there is no commercially available vaccine, prevention is sought by reducing the habitat and the number of mosquitoes and limiting exposure to bites. 

The dengue mosquitoes can easily breed in the water tanks atop swanky homes, a small pot with clean water in kitchens inside homes, or in rainwater on streets and roads. Hygiene in public spaces, stagnant water at homes and waste management would be the right first steps towards prevention. Following this, people should wear full sleeves and trousers to prevent getting bit by mosquitoes too.


Government says that: “Everything is under control and we are doing all we can.” But the alarming reports in the newspapers about dengue are that there is a huge calamity. Yet, the health ministry acknowledged that whatever the government might do to control dengue, its natural march and cannot be stopped but can at best only be “contained.”
That is tough when there has been so much rain in some cities like Delhi this year (52 rainy days since July and 573 millimeters of rain from the start of August to Sept. 9, according to numbers). There were more than 1,500 confirmed dengue cases and in the city so far this year. 


Government officials say that they have done all that they could to kill the adult Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue and their larvae at all the places in the city that they could access. They have resorted to intensive fogging and the spreading of pesticides in public places to kill the mosquitoes and their larvae. But the reality is different. The process fogging is done at very slow pace and is restricted to some areas only.
But dengue is the disease that needs highest sense of civic duty to control. That civic duty entails household responsibilities like covering up water tanks.
If nothing is done, the fear of the disease will disrupt normal life in the country.
While the country is grappling with the problem of hospital beds to accommodate the deluge of dengue patients, some upscale private hospitals have been found wanting in cooperating with the health authorities in tackling the crisis. They have failed to set apart a percentage of beds for the Economically Weaker Section as mandated by orders of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. This despite the fact the government doles out favours to them in the form of subsidised water and electricity, concessions on import of equipment and tax waivers.


The two top courts, in their judgments in 2007 and 2011 respectively, had held that private hospitals which had been allotted government land at concessional rates, shall treat 25 percent of EWS patients in OPD (out-patient department) and  10 percent in IPD (in-patient department) completely free of charge in all respects


However, some of the private hospitals supposed to be providing free treatment and reserving beds are either refusing or delaying treatment to poor patients. Sometimes, they furnish inflated bills which patients cannot afford.
Health Minister accepted that private hospitals are flouting the court guidelines. He said: “We have got complaints that hospitals are turning away critical patients citing lack of beds. They want to take cases that can be managed easily”. In the ICUs, beds are hardly available for EWS patients.

Hospitals continue to stay jam packed with patients and their relatives. As the government hospitals are obliged to take in patients and cannot refuse, there are patients lying unattended on the floors and 3-4 on one bed for obvious reasons.  There isn’t any more space in the hospitals – hallways are overflowing, OTs have been converted into wards to allow care for more patients and doctors are working around the clock. Almost all government-run hospitals are struggling to cope with the crush of patients, with limited beds to offer. Images of three or four patients sharing one bed have been shown on TV channels. This cannot happen in private hospitals, they have to provide equal efficient care to all those they admit but these hospitals are refusing patients because they are not equipped to handle such large number of cases. Even if they have beds, they don't have enough doctors and ICU equipments.

Medical community has been struggling to make ends meet. Even now Doctors are working 48 hrs straight in order to see maximum patients.
The present picture shows the irresponsible behavior of hospitals. The news of private hospitals and nursing homes in Delhi not admitting the patients are putting a big question mark on the Government’s management and Hospital’s ideology. From big hospitals to private clinics, the lack of proper treatment and ruthless behavior of doctors is putting patients’ life at risk.
Private hospitals have also been asked not to charge more than Rs. 600 for the dengue test, which is offered free of charge in government facilities. The government has warned private hospitals that they could lose their license for turning patients away but still they are charging around Rs. 1200.

The Indian Medical Association has said that the current virus type is less fatal compared to the one in 2013 and has appealed to people not to panic or demand hospital admission unless it is urgent. There is no need of platelets transfusion unless a patient has active bleed and count of less than 10,000.
Doctors are firmly warning patients to only buy medicines from the hospital’s pharmacy or a pharmacy outside, not something been loosely sold by someone who claims to be working for the hospital.


More could be done to tackle the disease. One method for example, long used in Singapore, would be to remove breeding spots for the mosquitoes—by draining even small pools of water in urban areas—or to attack the vector by other means, such as insecticides. This helps, too, against other diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as malaria. A laudable effort announced by India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, to "clean up" India, could yet see more done to drain standing water.
Not everyone with dengue dies but dengue nonetheless is a fatal condition. According to the WHO protocols followed worldwide, there is no treatment for dengue other than supportive care which is increased fluid intake and paracetamol.This can easily be done at home.


It is the responsibility of government to invest and take charge of the healthcare system. Also all the private and big hospitals should come forward and help to cope with the prevailing situation. If the private hospitals successfully increase the number of beds, there will be an average increase of at least 3,000 beds for patients in the capital. These will be used only for fever and dengue patients and no private hospital should turn away patients. Also upscale hospitals like Medanta, Fortis, Apollo, etc should provide free of cost treatment to poor patients so that nobody dies due to lack of proper treatment.



By Abhinav Aggarwal 
(Online Volunteer -Karnal )

FOOD AND MOOD

FOOD AND MOOD  By Dr. Pragati (MBBS, MD) The link between diet and emotions stems from the close relationship between brain and gastrointe...