Water Sanitation Hygiene ( Menstrual Hygiene) Campagin.

Water Sanitation Hygiene ( Menstrual Hygiene) Campaign And Distribution Of WASH And Education Materials In Schools Of Bhatipura Village ,Meerut, Khora And Noida .
Campaign Supported By Soap Box , Mika And Sarah .
Campaign Coordinator : Richa ,Sonika & Amy

Picture Gallery Link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.961267310621748.1073741876.287634107985075&type=3

 Come Join Us Our Projects And Be A Part Of Change 

Contact at : communications@heeals.org

Website : http://heeals.org/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Heeals?ref=bookmarks

Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/heeals.

Water Sanitation Hygiene Workshop In School And Distributed WASH and Education Materials To Student

Work shop In Village School

Picture Gallery Link Is Below
https://goo.gl/Jv4PBX

                                                         

Singing Hand wash rhyme with children

Come Be A Part Of It ! Join Us At : communications@heeals.org

WASH Santa and Distributed WASH & Education Supplies In Schools.

WASH Santa giving lesson on clean water and adopt clean sanitation and hygiene practice and Distributed Soap bars, Sanitary pads and Education Materials to children.
Picture Gallery Link Is Below 
https://goo.gl/dyzOfk

WASH Santa and Distributed WASH & Education Supplies In Schools

WASH Santa giving lesson on clean water and adopt clean sanitation and hygiene practice and Distributed Soap bars, Sanitary pads and Education Materials to children.

Picture Gallery Link :goo.gl/23bZXr

Wishing All Indians A Very Happy Republic Day

"We are Indians, firstly and lastly." – B.R Ambedkar
Jai Hind !

‪#‎Happyrepublicday‬

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on Republic Day (26th January)

On 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics, we will have equality and in social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.

How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of democracy which this Constituent Assembly has so laboriously built up.

"I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile."

"There is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world, it is yet to be created. In believing we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into thousand of castes be a nation? The sooner we realise that we are not yet a nation, in a social and psychological sense of the world, the better for us."

“Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us greater responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is a greater danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing,"

"Our object in framing the Constitution is rally two-fold: (1) To lay down the form of political democracy, and (2) To lay down that our ideal is economic democracy and also to prescribe that every Government whatever is in power shall strive to bring about economic democracy. The directive principles have a great value, for they lay down that our ideal is economic democracy."

Some of the quotes by Dr. B. R Ambedkar 

"We are Indians, firstly and lastly." – B.R Ambedkar

 "I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile." –B.R. Ambedkar

 "Constitution is not a mere lawyers document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age." – B. R Ambedkar

Once again, THANK YOU to our fabulous, wonderful, beautiful donors

Once again, THANK YOU to our fabulous, wonderful, beautiful donors. Your collaboration is just the beginning. We are almost at the point where we can man our project in one school after the holidays! But we still need your help. Please keep sharing, let's get the word out:http://igg.me/at/dEdmMiqOjMA To those who haven't donated yet, please take the time to look at our page. Any amount, however small, can make a huge difference in the lives of children. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ― Desmond Tutu Love to all, The Heeals Team

One in seven Indians at risk of malaria, says WHO report

The World Health Organisation has said that close to one in seven people in India are at risk of contracting malaria.In a report that should worry public health officials, it says India along with Ethiopia, Pakistan and Indonesia account for 80% of all malaria cases worldwide, but the country allocates the lowest funding for malaria control in the world.

The report based on the data collated by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) says of the 138 million people who doctors suspected to have malaria in the country , 1.102 million were confirmed cases. Although this is 15% lower than the 1.31 million cases in 2011, it is higher than in 2013 (.88 million) and 2012 (1.06 million). Deaths from malaria have also increased from 519 in 2012 to 562 in 2014.

Public health experts say the spike could be because of a malaria outbreak in Tripura and Odisha. Odisha had the highest prevalence with 395,000 cases, followed by Chhattisgarh with 128,000 cases and Jharkhand with 103,000 cases.

Tripura, with 49,653 cases, reported 96 malaria deaths, the most for any state. Tamil Nadu reported the sharpest fall in malaria cases among all states with 22,171 cases in 2011 and 8,729 cases three years later.

The WHO report notes that India is among the countries that faces the threat of ad vanced drug-resistant strains of malaria owing to unregulated sale of banned medication.Experts in vector-borne infections say the resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides is emerging as a challenge.

“Drug resistance was a problem three years ago, when we relied on a single drug. After incorporating multi-drug therapy in our national programme, resistance is not that big an issue.But we still do around 15 studies every year to study the efficacy of these drugs,“ says Dr G S Sonal, additional director, NVBDCP , who heads the malaria control division. He says, however, that re searchers have observed resistance to at least one insecticide, especially to DDT and pyrethroids, among any disease-spreading insect in most parts of the country .

The report also notes that authorities in India, along those in with Indonesia and Nepal, provide insufficient quantities of antimalarial medicines to public health facilities.

The entire malaria scenario isn't grim, thankfully . The global health body's report lauds India for disease surveillance. It also projects that India and Thailand would achieve a decrease of 50% to 75% in the incidence of malaria by 2016. Considering that WHO made similar estimates in reports in previous years, it's too early to tell if the country will meet this target.

source:TOI

Child Marriage in India: An illegal practice with a devastating impact

Child Marriage in India:

An illegal practice with a devastating impact

Image source: The Hindu

Amy McArthur       

06/01/2016

Child marriage remains one of the ugliest flaws in the fabric of contemporary Indian society. To most, it would seem incredible that the practice continues in many parts of the country today; but in fact, according to figures published by Unicef, a third of the world's child marriages take place in India, even though it has been declared illegal since 2006. In addition to this, the country caused international outrage in October 2013 when it refused to sign a UN resolution on early and forced marriage.

The evidence is stacked against child marriage: not only does it deny girls their right to a childhood, education and freedom of choice, but it may also physically endanger them in many ways: girls who give birth during adolescence are much more prone to complications during pregnancy or childbirth, and the infant mortality rate in India for women under twenty is a huge 76%. Marrying young also puts girls more at risk from sexually transmitted diseases, anaemia and hypertension among a host of other potential issues.

 When considering these facts the question is, why is it still such a widespread phenomenon? The answer is not a simple one. To start with, India, in practice, is still very much governed by religion and tradition, making it difficult to enforce laws that many consider to be an attack on their religious and cultural rights or beliefs. The problem is not restricted to a specific cultural group or geographical area, however. The majority of child marriages take place in impoverished and/or rural communities, which suggests that poverty, isolation and a lack of education are major factors in the perpetuation of this practice. Daughters in these areas are often seen as a financial burden on the family, and are therefore married off as soon as they are deemed old enough (sometimes as young as 12 or 13). The custom of giving dowries (a financial gift from the bride's family to the groom's), although also illegal, is commonplace, and as the dowry tends to be larger the older the girl is, they are married off young to avoid the financial pressure. Another factor that keeps child marriage in play is fear that the daughter may create a scandal by having sex or simply falling in love with someone before marriage or outside of her own caste. It is therefore common thinking that if a girl is married off young the risk of shame being brought on the family is reduced.

 Some steps are being taken in the right direction: several child brides have turned to the courts for justice, setting precedents that will make it easier to implement the Child Marriage Prohibition Act (CMPA). In September 2015, a historic case took place in Gujarat High Court: Muslim Personal Law was overridden by the CMPA, resulting in the conviction of a man who married a 16-year old girl. This sets an important precedent, meaning the CMPA now 'override[s] the provisions of Muslim Personal Law, Hindu Marriage Act or any personal law' (2015: Express News Service). However, cases of child marriage actually making it to court are relatively rare, and the costs involved are often unthinkable to girls living in poverty. As well as this, in many villages overlooked by the state because of their remoteness and impoverished situation the law is, understandably, a far away concept that does not directly affect the way they live.

It seems obvious that until women and girls cease to be treated as incapable of making decisions for themselves, as property to be effectively bought and sold by their male counterparts, the gender inequality problems India faces will not be going away anytime soon. Child marriage is the symptom of a disease that affects all levels of a society in which women are routinely abused, humiliated and treated as inferior entities, often to the indifference of the general public. If a change is to be made, child marriage needs to stop being seen as 'normal', and communities need to become aware that having educated, independent daughters who are able to earn money for themselves could be a long-term solution to the cycle of poverty. It needs to come from the bottom, and begins with education, with teaching women and girls how to see themselves as independent and valuable members of society. This doesn't have to mean a total rejection of culture or tradition; the important thing here is establishing and maintaining womens' and girls' right to make informed decisions for themselves on how they wish to live their lives.

To do this, grassroots action that is respectful of cultural traditions and beliefs and that directly involves the communities affected by child marriage is essential. There is no sense in pointing a proverbial gun at people’s heads and demanding that the practice cease immediately: a considerate approach involving open discussion and the participation of the community as a whole is extremely important. This is the idea behind Behaviour Change Communication programmes, such as those implemented by Heeals. These initiatives aim to change people’s attitudes towards women in a positive manner, and to help them reach the right decision for themselves, rather than having it imposed on them by an unknown faceless entity. It is through small, local actions like these that we can begin to truly make a difference in the lives of women and girls across India, and empower them to become valued members of society. 

Sources:

                       

●         Unicef:       http://unicef.in/Whatwedo/30/Child-Marriage

●      The Guardian:               http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/may/27/india-child-marriage-annulment-brides-go-to-court                 

●      The Times of India:    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/On-world-stage-India-lets-down-its-child-brides/articleshow/24108817.cms                

●         The Indian Express:   http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/prohibition-of-child-marriage-act-to-prevail-over-personal-laws-hc/

Thanks To Our Amazing Donors

Happy New Year to our amazing donors! Thank you so much for your contributions so far, we are on the way to doing something truly special. Please keep sharing, let's spread the word and keep the donations coming! Any amount, even small, can make a huge difference. Wishing you the very best in this coming year! Love, the Heeals team. 
http://bit.ly/1m6vLak 

Photo: Children at a school in Khora Colony, Uttar Pradesh