Why Menstrual Hygiene Management Matters Most !

Toilet For Healthier, Dignified And Free Life

The possibility of access to safe, accessible and clean sanitary facilities reperesent an added value to the dignity of man and, in this particular context, of women.

In India, one of the greatest challenges is to provide women the opportunity to use safe and functional toilets to manage their personal hygiene. Many people in India are forced to defecate outdoors which not only corresponds to a lack of privacy but also to a mismanagement of hygiene because there isn’t clean water available to wash your hands and clean the body after defecation.

Although the Indian state is engaging through the Swachh Bharat mission undertaken on 2^nd of October, 2014 to ensure that the entire Indian population has the benefit of being able to use safe toilets,still today, access to clean water and sanitation is a great problem.In India, about 522 million people still defecate in the open, increasing the risk of spreading diseases like diarrhoea and other types of viruses, not being able to wash their hands and walk for the most part barefoot.According to Indian government data mission the percentage of children who do not have access to the toilet corresponds to 50.2% of males 44.6% of females compared to those who instead use accessible baths that account for 26% of males and 24% of females.Although the state is committed to providing more infrastructure, the problem affects more deepen in the socio-cultural and educational aspect. More specifically, this factor affects the dignity of women and respect for gender equality.

Women who live in rural areas and in suburban villages that do not have toilets, often reduce themselves keeping their physiological needs until the night, and look for a land abandoned, miles away from home in the complete darkness to be able to relieve themselves. This, however, exposes them to a high risk not only to contract parasitic diseases but also to the nights dangers, as ill-intentioned that would sexually abuse them or would like to rob them.According to research, 70% of abused women suffered this type of violence while looking for a place to defecate far from their home.

Keeping the physiological needs, brings serious consequences to metabolism, requiring your body an unnatural effort that causes infections both in the urinary tract and in the intestine due to the bacteria not expelled for too long by our body. According to the Indian Medical Association, retaining physiological needs for a long time, and not expelling them when the body requires, itcan also cause the intestine to collapse as well as the lack of assimilation of nutrients. Indeed, some data reported by the Indian government in 2013 show that 33.5% of women in the state of Andhra Pradesh weigh below the threshold established by the World Health Organization (WHO), also declaring that the% 63 of women suffer from anaemia such as % 56.4 of pregnant women, while men reach 20%.The Indian Medical Association also added that resisting to defecate necessity provoke and accumulation of gases in the intestine that damage the inner bacterial flora which becomes weak and don’t protect the intestine from intestinal virus and bacterial infections easily verifiable in case of bad quality of the water. Data show that, 1.7 million cases of diarrhoeal diseases were registered in Andhra Pradesh in 2013, more than half of them in women.

Hygiene Education and the good practices.

The absence of a toilets or a latrine where to defecate, also means not having available clean water to be able to wash hands after defecating. This means that the faeces bacteria are transferred to the hands and contaminate everything that the hands touch, like the food that women cook. Being able to manage one's own hygiene is fundamental in order to avoid many infectious diseases. However, it is necessary to explain the value of this practice, because unfortunately it is not common, especially for those used to defecate in the open. The importance of disease prevention is often not understood because it changes the practices of common use which contrast the willingness to use latrines because they are considered dirty. It is important to act through education and teaching also at school level of which are the unfortunate causes caused by a lack of personal hygiene and defecation outdoors. In this respect, the intervention of many NGOs, such as HEEAL, is vital for the purpose of learning and achieving hygiene practices. In fact, for HEEALS the objectives are schools, where children are the right age to fully understand and not have already rooted improper practices, difficult to change. Through interactive lessons, Heeals promotes and supports personal hygiene education and adequate water use, in order to guarantee children, and adults who learn from children, a healthier life by avoiding many diseases.

-Elisa Stucchi.

GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.

According to the 4^th goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is necessary to ensure the whole population the opportunity to attend primary and secondary studies, guaranteeing equal opportunities for both boys and girls to access to quality technical and vocational education.This means that states will have to respond through political interventions to safeguard both quality improvement and above all complete indiscriminate access for every child, through means that address gender inequality, food insecurity and armed conflict.

In India, important advances have been made regarding the universalization of primary education, succeeding in obtaining an improvement in enrollment rates and completion by girls in primary and secondary school studies. According to the report of UN system in India, Indian population managed to reach the literacy rate among youth aged 15-24, from 83.2% to 91.4%,between 1990 and 2016. Completion rates in primary school were 89.6% by 2016.

What the data show is that the Indian policy framework is fully embracing the fourth objective of Sustainable Development Goals, and it is aimed at achieving universal quality education for all Indians, and is complemented in this effort by targeted schemes on nutritional support, higher education, and teacher training.

Although the Indian government is striving to achieve a full schooling of its population,there are still obstacles that are not easy to deal with and that depend on many factors.In a country where nearly 70% of the population lives in rural areas, access to educational opportunities is limited. Even today, the gender inequality in schools is a problem that has to face different realities: the economic conditions of the family, cultural attitudes and taking into account the social background of which people are part.

From the 2005 India Human Development Survey data, it emerges that, the school success of the male child is preferred over the daughter, especially if the family lives in rural areas with a lower socio-economic background. This can explain how social level can contribute to a different quantity of learning resources and to the actual devotion to the study, but they also depend on cultural attitudes.

It isn’t difficult to understand that learning outcomes are influenced by the historical cultural aspect that leads to seeing the role of women different from that of men and people who live in rural conditions are very tied to these concepts.

Indeed, as a girl student known at school told us, Roshni, in her family even in small daily gestures, parents worry a lot more about the well-being of her brother, even if older and  has already got a job, but always mother worries about preparing food for him, while for her there is some less consideration.

The social-economic background: poverty and gender inequality preference.

The school quality is an important aspect in order to foster a good quality education but also to have more means available in order to deepen studies. However, Indian girls may experience lower quality school environments than boy.Infect, girls enrolled in private schools are slightly lower than boys and often boys are more likely to conclude a high school education studies.In a rural context, it becomes an important expense to provide children a complete education. Given the expense, and given the limited willingness to advance the studies to their children, it is considered appropriate that they earn the basic education and after working immediately. Low-income families can struggle to fund their children's school and consequently require more effort for household, giving this responsibilities, as well as that of looking after the children, to daughters and family’s women.

Distance to school.

Girls from rural area haven’t many opportunities to progress after primary level, often because they don’t have nearby high-school and to reach the nearer school could be an additional expense,or they aren’t allowed to travel to distant school. There are not allowed for the fear that educating girls can causes excessive independence and people can see girls going to school by doing it alone.Above all, because they risk of experiencing violence and harassment during the journey.

 

Child marriage.

Especially, girls represent an economic value and the education of girls may be converted to household and child rearing tasks. The opportunity cost regarding the role of girls are expressed through girls employment in activities that permit the economic survival of the family. Furthermore, another reason could be that girls have to be prepared for marriage and parents need to save money and limit the amount of funds for daughter education. After marriage, the early pregnancy is one of the reasons for girls have drop out of school.

According to the association Girls not Brides, India has the highest number of child brides in the world. It is estimated that 27% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday. Over the last decades, the rates were about 50%. While fewer Indian girls are marrying before the age of 15, rates of marriage have increased for girls between ages 15 to 18.

Lack of safe and private girls-only toilets

However, one of the many reasons why girls do not go to school and interrupt their studies is due to the lack of adequate and private facilities for girls only. Many facilities are not adequate for personal hygiene, even when girls have to deal with menstrual periods.

As in 2012,UNESCO statistics demonstrated that 40% of all government schools lacked a functioning common toilet, and another 40% lacked a separate toilet for girls.

Analysing facts, it is possible to notice that Indian girls enrolled in school are at lower rates than boy, they enter late and drop out earlier.

Women are undoubtedly the foundation of the basic unit of society: the family. Even in traditional roles they demonstrate great innovation, skill, intelligence, hard work and commitment. They can all be magnificent attributes to be developed and invested in every social context, from the family to the economic, educational and work.The education of women is therefore key.

The role of NGO is important to affirm the women empowerment in every context of their life. As Heeals, that is committed on woman integration, believes that every point of view and way of thinking it is formed in the educational environment.Trying to get easier the obstacles that girls have to face, HEEALS intends to provide students with the awareness of some useful alternatives to continue to attend school and not be obliged to stay at home. Whether it is through the construction of well-equipped separate toilets or the distribution of sanitary napkins, but most important it is the spread of information about how to deal with the management of menstrual hygiene, so students can be free to go to school and taking care of their health.

Elisa Stucchi.

References

Azam, Mehtabul and GeetaKingdon, are Girls the farer sex in India? Revisiting intra-household allocation of education expenditure, Discussion Paper 5706, IZA, 2011.

United Nation Development Programme, India Human development reports 2016.

Democracy Is In Your Hands !

The fact that India is the largest democracy in the world is known worldwide, but these "positive" connotations refer only to the number of inhabitants of the country, nothing else. It is still far from leading international democracies such as Norway, Denmark or Finland, which are more transparent systems that enjoy high levels of quality in education, health or way of transports. The global recognition to these countries would not be understood as decent and integral democratic models to follow without the importance of participatory democracy in their societies.

In these systems, democracy means more than depositing the vote every 4 years for the random candidate of the party in office where, in most cases, it promises things to achieve power and then forgets the problems of the people who voted for him. As Nikita Khrushchev said one time: "Politicians always do the same thing: they promise to build a bridge even if there is no river," and that is one of the problems that India is currently facing. This problem is linked to the lack of citizen participation in State policies. Being a democrat grants a series of basic privileges for any human being such as the right to freedom of expression, religion, health, education... but also establishes obligations as a citizen and a democrat, such as ensuring that policies are carried out necessary to improve their living conditions and therefore that the politician fulfills his work.

Democracy comes from the Greek word "Demos" and "Kratos". The first means "people" and the second "government". The policy should be conceived as a part-time profession of all citizens who want to get involved in it and not profit from it. The great advances of the history came from the hand of the citizen participation in social subjects like the pacific revolution of Gandhi, the “I have to dream” of Martin Luther King or the disobedience attitude of Rosa Parks.

The levels of water sanitation and hygiene in India are still deficient for the majority of the population. The improvements in this sector must be accompanied by the commitment of society in one of the basic services for the development of any human being.

HEEALS encourages the society participation in development and cooperation through his projects and workshops related to human rights and WASH. We believe that progress and water sanitation and hygiene must work together since they both affect the health conditions of the population. By performing these workshop to marginalized and vulnerable groups, we aim to empower them creating awareness of their daily issues of their lives and allowing them to participate in local and national make policies.

- Jorge Latorre

Intern at HEEALS

Global Handwashing Day 2018

On Global Hand Washing Day 15th October 2018 ,We Organized Hand Wash Workshop In Village School And Distributed Soap Bars To School And One Hand Wash Poster .

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Internship Completed !!

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HEEALS Intern Laura Testimonial Video 2018

HEEALS Intern Laura successfully completed her internship and share her experience through her Testimonial Video.

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Menstrual hygiene management workshop

Menstrual hygiene management workshop was organized in Gurgaon & Uttar Pradesh schools and distributed sanitary pads

Click for Picture gallery link

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People Voices To Save Girl Child & Educate Girl Child In India

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Hand Wash Soaps for School Children in Villages

Think about washing your hands; think about getting a glass of water, flushing the toilet, wash your hands with hands soaps... These are all things that most of us consider pretty essential to maintaining good personal hygiene to prevent water communicable diseases, right?

Now imagine that you were born into different circumstances. 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.

Page link : https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hand-wash-soaps-for-school-children-in-villages/x/2617105#/comments 

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BENEFITS OF CULTURAL EXCHANGE

Talking about multicultural education may seem repetitive and

redundant if we refer the discourse to a privileged school context,

attended by students belonging to wealthy families. The discourse

may change if we consider a different type of schools, particularly

schools with a huge lack of benefits, facilities and materials. Children belonging to the poorest quarters or villages often attend this kind of schools; their chance to learn is limited to school possibilities. Any other kind of knowledge is not affordable or very difficult to obtain. Associations like HEEALS, not only give them a general knowledge

about basic habits that helps to maintain them healthy, but also give them the chance to be in contact with interns coming from all over the world. This contact is the bridge that introduces them to all worlds’

cultures, without travel. One of the first results of this positive cultural contamination is the

increase of curiosity. As everybody knows, children’s mind is

particularly absorbent; that means that they can easily learn a lot of

information in different environments and situations. This is why a

contact with people coming from different culture may represent a

positive way to classify new information. This process will be

absolutely helpful to break prejudices against other culture. In fact,

often, these prejudices are caused by ignorance or lack of information

about people that come from distant countries.

During HEEALS intern's experience, children can talk with them

before and after workshops, asking them a lot of questions about

family, habits and lifestyle. This kind of conversation brings children

in contact with intern's country, breaking boundaries and prejudices.

Another point in favour of this working method is that kids may be

more likely to listen to someone that can catch them through curiosity

and different aspect ore behaviour. Sometimes, in fact, happens that

intern have new ideas or tricks to catch child’s attention such as

games, songs or dances that comes from intern's country.

The result of this working method is already showing good effects. In

fact, meeting a new intern children start to ask questions and to

compare different country characteristics and peculiarity. In this way

they not only are able to compare their own experience with other

countries reality, but also they can make a comparison between two

different countries on the base of intern's stories and habits.

In the end, it is important to mention the importance of the mutual

personal growth. Indeed, children are not the only beneficiaries of

this method; interns have also the big chance to actually experience

children's reality. These benefits not only have a positive influence on

intern's studies and research, but also on his personal and emotional

sphere.

-Laura

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND GOVERNAMENTAL SCHOOLS

In recent years, India's economical growth improved continuously,

ameliorating the society livelihood and lifestyle. But, what about the

education system? The governmental efforts in order to improve and

increase literacy in the last century, since the independence, allowed

to the population to engage in schools and universities as never

before. But, there is still a gap between the private and the

governmental schools.

From an administrational point of view, we just can say that an

obstacle to a successful management of a governmental school is the

paperwork and the bureaucracy that involves all steps of work.

One of the main differences between these two kinds of schools is the

infrastructure issue. The construction of a public school is often new

and well maintained; while for the governmental the situation may be

more critical. May happens that in this type of schools there is a lack of

electricity, water, sanitation items and facilities. The electricity issue

represent a problem because is involved with the possibility to have

water in bathrooms, light in classrooms, air vents or any electronic

item (that may be very helpful in order to improve student's

knowledge). This substantial difference is more evident in village area,

and may be directly connected with the nature of both kind of schools;

in fact, in a governmental schools there's no need to pay fees or taxes

to attend, schools uniforms and materials (books, exercises book and

pens) are freely provided by the government. This allow to the

poorest people to send their children to school, avoiding them child

labour.

This may be seen as a great step forward, but at the same time is

necessary to underline the different chances that have students

coming from these two kinds of schools. In fact, because of big sums of

money invested in private schools, students not only live in a more

positively competitive environment, but also have the chance to join

different extracurricular activities that make their future Curriculum

more appealing. By contrast, in governmental schools the extra

activities are more related with more material and practical activities

that aims to improve student's livelihood, such as hand washing

activities. Often, these activities aimed to improve hygienic conditions

are conducted by local NGO, such as HEEALS NGO. In recent Years,

HEEALS managed to increase the livelihood of many schools,

providing RO water filter, facilities and realising educative workshops

about hygiene and sanitation. These practical activities have a

fundamental and positive implication in their daily life, but from an

academic point of view there is a gap.

Another big issue related to the distinction between private and a

governmental school is linked to the ratio of teacher to student.

In governmental schools this ratio is often too small, there are too

many children for few teachers; this mean that classrooms are more

crowded and the quality of teaching may have negative implications

that effects student's knowledge and teacher's work quality. It's easy

to imagine how much strong should be a teacher who teaches is such a

difficult environment, playing a role that is wider that one person can

imagine.

On concluding, it is important to underline that children shouldn’t pay

the bill for economical and financial choices, the main purpose of

education is the intellectual and human growth of students.

- Grandoni Laura