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

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^[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

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BuzBRLgCng

Hand washing in the Himalayas:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1VofggymC0

The Curse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRlngOAsxo

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...

* UN BLOG : http://blog.ungei.org/?p=255

* CSR TIMES: http://www.csrtimes.com/community-articles/spea...

* HEEALS SUCCESS STORY :http://heeals.org/entries/general/success-stories-

* SURVEY REPORT 2012 :

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3-sg3TTDoppclV...

* CAMPAIGN REPORT 2012:https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3-sg3TTDoppWV9...

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

‪#‎WASH‬ Program Is Going On In Western Uttar Pradesh Schools

Hand Wash Bring Happiness‬ 

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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!

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

To End Violence Against Women And Girls

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 

Contact at : communications@heeals.org

Website : http://heeals.org/ 
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Heeals?ref=bookmarks

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

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 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