CHILD HEALTH DAY

Child Health Day is a national observance in the United States observed on the first Monday of October annually.

It is rightly said by John F. Kennedy that “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”. The Wealth of a nation is not in its economical and natural resources but it lies undoubtedly in the kind and quality of the health of its children.They will be the creators and shapers of a nation’s tomorrow.

It, therefore, becom esessential for every nation and every society to nurture a child’s development both mentally and physically.It is rightly said that “Charity begins at home”. Therefore, it is crucial that we ensure the mental and physical well-being of our children.

Here are a few ways to nurture a child so as to ensure their mental welfare:

1.    The first and the foremost step involves listening to your child. This provides comfort and assurance to the child. Make sure to express your willingness to talk on any subject .

2.    Secondly, it is necessary to acknowledge the uniqueness of your child. Don't compare the abilities of your child to those of other children. Set goals based on the child's abilities and interests but at the same time also accept limitations.

3.    Thirdly , promote your child's independence and self-worth. Help your child deal with life's peaks and valleys. It is important that  parents show confidence in their child's capability to handle problems and deal with new experiences.

4.    Lastly, it is extremely important to spend time with your child. Try taking out time for one-on-one activities or indulge in doing simple activities that both would enjoy.

Do remember “One child one teacher one book and one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai

The steps taken by the Government to further improve the health condition of children include the following:

1.Focussed attention in 184 High Priority Districts for implementation of Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health+ Adolescent (RMNCH+A) interventions for achieving improved maternal and child health outcomes. 

2.Name Based Web enabled Tracking of Pregnant Women to ensure antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care and children for immunization to all the children.

3. Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.

4.Engagement of more than 8.9 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the community including those for children.

5.Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision of maternal and child health services.

6.Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron and folate rich food as well as food items that promote iron absorption. 

7. Put in place similar entitlements for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.

8. Establishment of Newborn care corners  at all health facilities where deliveries take place; Setting up of Special New Born Care Units  and New Born Stabilization Units at appropriate facilities for the care of sick newborn including preterm babies.

9. Promotion of appropriate Infant and young child feeding practices such as early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding and age appropriate complementary feeding among young children.

10. Launched IndiaNewborn Action Plan to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths.

11. Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight was observed in August 2014 focussing on ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.

12. Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea launched in four States (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan) with highest Child Mortality.

-Priyanka Dalmia 

Sources:https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=113252

Stop Child Marriage & MHM Workshop

Stop Child Marriage ,Menstrual Hygiene Workshop & Distributed Sanitary pads ,WhiteBoard, marker & Wash & Menstrual Hygiene Booklet in Bhatipura Village Uttar Pradesh.

For more pictures please visit our picture gallery or Facebook Page .Thank You !

Stop Child Marriage & MHM Workshop

Stop Child Marriage ,Menstrual Hygiene Workshop & Distributed Sanitary pads ,WhiteBoard, marker & Wash & Menstrual Hygiene Booklet in Bhatipura Village Uttar Pradesh. 

For more pictures please visit our picture gallery or Facebook Page .Thank You !

 

The importance of handwashing with soap in schools

Handwashing, also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning hands for the purpose of
removing soil, dirt, and microorganisms. Although it can prevent infection and save lives, good hand
hygiene is not widespread in domestic, school and healthcare settings. Only 19% of people across the
world wash their hands with soap after defecating. 35% of healthcare facilities have no water and
soap for handwashing, and only 21% of schools in developing countries have handwashing facilities.
Furthermore, compliance with handwashing behaviours are worse in many low-income settings.
UNICEF data show that nearly 900 million children have either limited or no handwashing service
at their school. 47% of schools worldwide do not have handwashing facilities with soap and water. ½
of schools in the least developed countries have no hygiene service at all.
Why is handwashing with soap important? few data…
Water alone does not dislodge dirt, grease, and the natural oils on hands, but soap helps break down
germ-carrying oils. Soap also facilitates rubbing and friction which can remove germs from the
hands, and so that germs can be rinsed away with water. Using soap also adds to the time spent
washing and ensures a more effective wash. With proper use, all soaps are equally effective at
removing germs that cause disease. Moreover:
• Washing hands with soap at critical times (after using the toilet, before eating and preparing food)
can reduce diarrhoea rates by more than 40%. Handwashing with soap is one of the most costeffective
interventions to prevent diarrhoea-related deaths and disease.
• Handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) by more
than 20%.
• Up to 50% of cases of malnutrition are caused by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene.
• Handwashing promotion in schools can play a role in reducing the number of days children miss
school. Studies reveal that promotion and distribution of soap in primary schools result in more
than 50% fewer days of absence among students compared to schools without such an
intervention.
• Health costs due to hygiene-related diseases can be reduced by good hygiene habits such as
handwashing with soap.
How can we change people’s hand washing behaviors?
Access to clean water and soap alone will not deliver the health and development benefits of
handwashing. It is true behavior change and the sustained and consistent practice of the new
behavior that ensures the positive results. Changing people’s behavior is difficult and complex, but
possible with the right approach and in the right context. Behavior change is not a rocket science, nor
a silver bullet; it is a social science and it requires a multi-disciplinary approach in order to design,
implement and evaluate programs more effectively. A collective effort from governments, donor
agencies, I/NGOs, local capacity based organizations (CBO), private sector, academia and civil
society is urgently needed in the sector to implement and evaluate sustainable handwashing
campaigns at scale.
In India, for example, the Mid-Day Meal which is a government flagship program operational in all
schools across the country serves nearly 110 million children in 1.3 million primary and upper
primary schools . It provides an excellent opportunity to influence hygiene practices of children
particularly handwashing with soap before meals. Learning this simple, but lifesaving habit in school,
also means that children can inculcate this among other household members too. As powerful agents
of behavioral change, children can take lessons they have learned at school back home to teach their
parents, siblings and elders on good hygiene behaviors such as handwashing with soap. It is a path
breaking innovation that can potentially improves the education and health outcomes of 110 million
children who have mid-day meal daily, across the country. Group Handwashing ensured that all
children wash hands in ‘groups’, stand facing each other, exchanges positive messages, make ‘eye to
eye’ contact and enjoy the process. Making this happen on an every-day basis before Mid-Day Meal
in every school of the country, leads to a new ‘social norm’ around handwashing before meals.
Global Handwashing Day and the international commitment:
Global Handwashing Day (October 15th) was established in 2008 as a platform to advocate for
greater attention to hand hygiene. This effort, combined with many other efforts to bring attention to
the need for improved water supply, sanitation, and hygiene, have resulted in the inclusion of
handwashing as an indicator within the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically, 6.2.1). With
this, more countries than ever before have begun to include handwashing with soap as an indicator in
their routine data collection.
Target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls on the global community to achieve
access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030. Despite this, hygiene still gets
low levels of political attention in low and middle-income countries. One explanation for this is that
historically, the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector focused on building taps and toilets,
whilst the healthcare sector focused on treating patients and behaviour change has always been seen
as a difficult undertaking. Target 6.2 indicators for handwashing include the ‘proportion of
populations with handwashing facilities with soap and water at home’. However, this indicator is just
a proxy measurement, and doesn’t tell us whether people are actually practicing handwashing. There
is therefore a need for each country to set up a behavioural outcomes-related indicator in addition to
target 6.2. Though there is growing recognition of the importance of behaviour change it is still
highly neglected. The biggest challenge in the WASH sector right now is how to achieve sustained
hygiene behaviour change at scale, and attain Global Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation for all).
Our commitment:
HEEALS (Health, Education, Environment And Livelihood Society) is one of those organizations
directly involved in implementing hand washing with soap in children’s daily routine. It is working on
WASH (water, sanitation and Hygiene) projects in seven states: Delhi (National Capital Region),
Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal, Uttranchal, Leh and Uttar Pradesh. HEEALS works in slum
schools, schools in unauthorised colonies, orphanages and refugee camps. Through spreading
education on sanitation and personal hygiene and delivering basic hand washing material, HEEALS
is working to increase the attendance rates of pupils in schools, reduce the number of diseases and
deaths and improve the health of people across Indian society.

-Manuel
WASH Intern


References:
- Curtis V, Kanki B, Cousens S, Sanou A, Diallo I, Mertens T. Dirt and diarrhoea: Formative research in hygiene
promotion programme. Oxford University Press 1997; (12(2)): 122-31.
- Freeman M, Stocks M, Cumming O, Jeandron A, Higgins J, Wolf J, et al. Hygiene and health: systematic review of
handwashing practices worldwide and update of health effects. Tropical Medicine and International Health. 2014; 19(9):
906-16.
- WHO, UNICEF. Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: Status in low- and middle-income countries and
way forward; 2015.
Links:
https://globalhandwashing.org/handwashing-with-soap-why-should-we-care/
https://washdata.org/reports
http://unicef.in/story/129/fast-facts-and-figures-about-handwashing
https://globalhandwashing.org/about-handwashing/faqs/

WASH & MH Workshop In Gurgaon

WASH & MH Workshop Organized In Gurgaon And Distributed Sanitary Pads & WASH and MH Booklets 

Interested Candidate Looking For Internship /Volunteering/Volunteer travel program At HEEALS Please Contact Us At : communications@heeals.org

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MHM Workshop In Schools

Menstrual Hygiene Workshop In Uttar Pradesh School and Distributed Sanitary pads and WASH & MH Booklet 

Menstrual Hygiene Workshop In School

Interested Candidate Looking For Internship /Volunteering/Volunteer travel program At HEEALS Please Contact Us At : communications@heeals.org

Please Come Join Us!

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

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

Reason of dropout of girls from school

 Around the world, girls are less likely to graduate from secondary school than boys. Millions of girls are missing their classes during their periods, which deprives them of getting a quality education. There are many reason for this, mostly due to lack of facilities,of information and of sanitary products.

Culturally, in India, menstruations are considered dirty and impure and during periods girls are discouraged to attend school and stay home. The unavailability of sanitary pads, inadeguate sanitation and absence of separate toilet for girls in schools, has a huge impact on girl school attendance and is a major reason of dropout of girls from school. The main challenges at schools are identified as lack of soap, clean toilets, clean water privacy and sanitary pads supply. Moreover, there’s no facility to dispose of the soiled sanitary towels and no private area for girls to change their underwear or sanitary napkins and manage their hygiene. Menstruation continues to be a subject of gender disparity in India, because of a lack of awareness makes for a major problem in India’s menstrual hygiene scenario.

In Delhi, 40% of girls in government schools stay home during periods, for reasons such as unavailability of private place to manage periods, lack of running water supply, absence of disposal system for pads/clothes and lack of bathroom for girls. Girls are forced to stay away from school because toilets are open and there’s no privacy and also girls are hesitant to seek permission to go home. The reasons for absenteeism are different, one of the most frequent one is the lack of running water supply. Out of six girls, one school had no separate toilets for girls. Many girls complained that the toilets did not have regular water supply, forcing them to stay at home during menstruation. Additionally, cramps and shame are an incentive to drop out from school.

For some parents, puberty also indicates a sign of maturity for girls: time for them to get married. Thus, improving sanitation facilities and hygiene services could have a great impact on improving girls’ attendance in school. There’s an urgent need to improve basic facilities to cut out absenteeism. The solution is Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), that it is the access of adeguate information, preparation, and support to manage menstruation in a healthy, safe way.  It can further social and economic empowerment and growth. MHM need the involvement of teachers whom are fundamental to reach out girls with correct information and skills to manage their periods. Girls and teachers have to discuss on menstruation.

Keep girls in school is not only important for their own health and well-being but for the success of the entire community. When a girl finishes secondary school, she is less likely to experience child marriage, face domestic abuse and suffer from long-term complications. As a result, educated women are more likely to have fewer, healthier children, who are then more likely to get an education and pull themselves out of poverty. MHM can affect the community also through demanding need for privacy for managing their periods could persuade their parents to construct toilet at home, the break of taboos surrounding periods and to carry out message on hygiene practice into their households and community.

Some measures that can improve the situations can be are the development of water and sanitation facilities in school girls’ toilets including the incinerator for safe disposal of napkins have shown its impact on the school attendance. This can reduce the dropout rate of girls in school. In 2015 the government of India launched national guidelines on MHM to respond to nearly 113 million millions adolescent girls’ at risk of dropping out of school due to the start of menarche. One of the surveys that informed the National Guidelines found that in 14,724 government schools only 53% had a separate and usable girls’ toilet.

We, at HEEALS, believe that MHM is fundamental for girls’ education and improvement. That’s why we implemented MHM measures into our programs for girls our school, through our Menstrual Hygiene and Girl Education Project in which we give girls classes on the importance of menstrual hygiene practices, free booklets and sanitary pads in Northern regions of India.

-Bene 
MH Intern