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Sulabh International Institute of Health & Hygiene

With a view lo achieving health care in totality, treatment of diseases alone is not enough. Therefore Sulabh has developed an integrated health care approach with emphasis on yoga, use of herbs and plants, healthy habits and a change in altitude towards health and sanitation. It covers almost all aspects of health care, including checkups, immunization, pre-natal care, family planning, sale food and drinking water, environmental sanitation, health education, etc in such a manner that all these become readily available arid affordable lo the recipients through self-sustainable management.

The Sulabh International Institute of Health and Hygiene (SIIHH}, set up in 1994, aims at achieving all these by developing both software and hardware on health, hygiene and sanitation with an integrated approach, making the whole health programme sustainable with the focus on women, children, and the youth living in urban slums and rural poverty areas. SIIHH has undertaken many such projects in collaboration with various national and international funding agencies working for the sustainable community development. The Institute works in the fallowing areas :

Manual on “Women and Sanitation” in Telgu/English released by Hon'ble Shri Chandra babu Naidu
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

1. Creating awareness through education and training programme for women volunteers, school students, teachers and rural folk.

• The training 11,000 of women volunteers in Delhi, UP, MP, Rajasthan. Haryana, and Chandigarh especially from the urban slums and rural areas has been under taken. They work to promote health, hygiene and sanitation.
• Publishing manuals on Women and Sanitation in Hindu English and Telugu. A Nepalese translation is lust ready for publication AH such publications are effective in spreading the message.
• Training women volunteers who are deployed to ensure sustainable community development, safe water supply in urban slums and developing models and modules in rural and urban set-ups. About 1,500 women volunteers have been trained lo serve safe drinking water to 150,000 urban slum dwellers. They are given a commission on supply and sale, which provides them with a regular income. It is being done in collaboration with the PSl and WHO.

2. Developing models and modules in rural and urban areas. SIIHH developed urban slums and villages into models which can be replicated. Once such village is the Jhuljhuli village, near Najafgarh, Delhi, deserving special mention. After a visit by the Sister City International of the U.S., the Mayor of Kettering, Ohio, in letter to Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak stated that their visit was memorable for two reasons, "seeing The Taj Mahal, and visiting Jhuljhuli!”

• Starling various programmes such as health check-up camps, rural sanitation in Budhgaon, Sangli (aharashtra), Ranichauri, New Tehri . (Uttaranchal) and 12 village near Bhondsi (Gurgaon. harvana). A project on "Sustainable Development and Healthy Enwronrnent" has been implemented in many villages of UP, MR, Haryana, and Punjab & Raiasthan. This has been sponsored by the WHO and its implementation is being facilitated by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Rural Development, with the main objective of promoting safe drinking water, sanitation and rural water supply.
• Initiating people’s participator programmes with awareness and training on Health. Hygiene and Sanitation in the Yamuna Action Plan and rural set-up. We have conducted these programmes in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Yamuna Action Plan in collaboration with Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC) and Public Health Engineering Department Department (PHED), Haryana government and with other states in the rural villages.

3. Initialing programme on population stabilization for which few innovative methods have been adopted :

• Distribution of oral contraceptive pills to eligible women al their doorsteps, ensuring timely delivery of pills ahead of the schedule date for users, thus eliminating "drop ours" due to non-availability,
• issue of contraceptive distribution cards based on The pattern of the "Immunization Card" used by LJMCEF for timely use of various contraceptives as selected by users.

Better upkeep of toilets in hospitals

4. Conducting programmes related to STD & HIV/AIDS. The Institute has undertaken various projects related to STD & AIDS in collaboration with the National AIDS control Organization, West Bengal, AIDS Control Society. Delhi, Family Health International, AIDSCAP and USAID.

A group of women volunteers being given traning

• And also promoting an innovative method to Use the Sulabh toilet Complexes as awareness and education centers for prevention of STD & AIDS, by exhibiting various publications by distributing free condoms. Besides, over a thousand women volunteers have been trained in prevention of STD&AIDS in the urban slums of Delhi.
• Helping people use Sulabh toilet facilities as awareness and publicity Centers distribution of free condoms which have proved successful, throughout India, with a very large number of users using the toilet complexes everyday.

5. The partners in these programmes are:

• Central and State Governments.
• National funding agencies-PFI, NIUA, NAGG. State AIDS control societies.
• International funding agencies-WHO, UNICEF, USAID, AIDSCAP, etc.
• People: volunteers trained to act as leaders in slums and villages to promote people's participation.

6. Programmes for school students and teachers:

• Students and teachers prove excellent ambassadors for awareness creation for health, hygiene, and sanitation, and Sulabh is encouraging teachers and senior school students in taking up such related activities in urban slums and rural areas.

7. Hospital sanitation and waste management:

• This area has also been accorded increased priority through sustained efforts and bringing out various publications on the subject the training of medical and para-medical aspects has been taken up on a national level. We have successfully developed "Safe pit for sharps", a cost-effective but simple process for sale disposal of sharp. It has been constructed in 33 hospitals in India. The DDU Hospital, Delhi, is an example where we are providing the toilet and cleanliness fad lilies.

Safe pit for sharps at King Kotty Hospital, Hyderabad

8. We have developed the Sulabh toilet complex as a health center and awareness-cum-training center.

• With the backing of adequate infrastructure, manpower and space, we have developed a "Health Centre” for preventive, curative and rehabilitative medical care of the poor and needy. This center also provides Homeopathic and Ayurvedic treatment. In short, we have tried to emphasize that awareness, education and training to various community groups, especially to women, students and children, is what matters most In Implementing programmes related to health, hygiene, and sanitation. This is specially so with women's groups and the local youth, who can make the programmes sustainable with people’s participation.

9. We have arranged a supply of safe drinking water at very cost-effective rate -a pilot project.

• Recently a pilot project has been taken up by SIIHH in collaboration with PSI and WHO, which covers the 1.5 lakh population from 30,000 Jhuggi Jhopries of the urban slum poor. Already 657 women volunteers have been trained to take part in this project. These women volunteers have been given Training Oh health, hygiene, safe drinking water, hazards of insanitation etc. They have been also given the responsibility of the sale of disinfectant solutions and plastic containers to store water which is the most cost-effective safe drinking water. It costs only Rs. 12/- (or disinfecting 1000 litres of water which a family of 5 members can consume for 2 months, in comparison The cost of bottled water by commercial units as well as Delhi Jal Board is very high. (Rs 40 for 20 litres by Bisleri and Rs. 15 for 20 litres by Jal Board).

The plus point of this project is lo ensure the cheapest sate drinking water to urban slum dwellers and poor habitat areas and also lo enable women volunteers ro earn money our of the sale of this product This makes It a sustainable programme with community participation, which also enhances domestic economy.

Further, due lo the use of safe drinking water, incidence of water-borne diseases like Polio, Hepatitis, Cholera Intestinal worms etc. help lo reduce the illness and death rate.

Introducing Family Medical Folder :

S I.I.H H has introduced certain innovative measures of developing Family Medical Folders. This folder includes a health check up card of all members of the family. This check up is done once a year on a regular basis. Early check up ensures detection of diseases at the earliest opportunity. This ha& been successfully Implemented in some villages and urban slums.