health issues

To find a partner to sponsor free annual diabetes and hypertension detection camp for the underprivileged
Due to the staple diet of rice and coconut, people of Kaup and the surrounding area are prone to diabetes and hypertension. Recent survey shows that nearly one in 4-5 of people above 55 are diabetics and most of them have hypertension. Most of them do not know that they have diabetes. Even if they did, they do not know that hypertension and diabetes can not be "cured" but can only be managed. Once they discover they have diabetes, they take the prescribed medicine at most for a month or stop it as soon as they feel better. The main reason is the cost of medicine. They believe that every disease is curable. Moreover, the "Ayurvedic" doctors lure these patients into herbal treatment "guaranteeing" them to cure diabetes for a fraction of the cost. This misinformation is so widespread that people prefer Ayurvedic treatment to regular medicine because it can "cure" the diseases that regular medicine can not.

Ayurveda is an ancient form of Indian medicine that deals with the diseases without any knowledge of biochemistry. The Ayurvedic doctors are usually the people who could not get into regular medicine due to low scores in the entrance exams. They join the the bachelor/postgraduate programs in alternative medicine in order to be a "doctor". Most of the Ayurvedic doctors I know, treat their children's cold and flu with regular medicine but "cure" their patients even the ones with new diseases such as AIDS, Cancer, Alzheimer, with the herbal concoction!! This practice is not illegal. The Indian government is pressured to "preserve and protect" its ancient knowledge and culture, and therefore can not set up an organization like FDA to monitor Ayurveda practice. There are no approvals required to manufacture or to sell these herbal potions. Nobody is even going to check what is in it! Adulterating these herbal mixtures with steroids, cocaine or valium or regular medicines is a common practice in this branch of medicine. The patients love these drugs because their pain eases in minutes! The Ayurvedic doctors get to practice regular medicine in this way without the training or a license and make tons of money by making false promises to the terminal patients (who have been told they have no hopes by the regular doctors). Unfortunately, the regular doctors can not claim to "cure" AIDS or cancer or diabetes because they have an FDA equivalent government agency to monitor malpractice. Moreover, the doctors practicing alternative medicine prepare their drugs at home by simply grinding some herbs and leaves. There is no way anyone can monitor the contents of these magic(?) potions.

We want to educate people about diabetes and hypertension. If we tell them why is it not curable and how it could be managed, they can live longer years, without being subjected to stroke or gangrene. We can also warn them against phony doctors who claim to cure them. An annual diabetes/hypertension camp that teaches people to look for signs of these diseases and how to treat and manage them would be a good start. Moreover, teaching them to eat right and exercise regularly may prevent their children from getting diabetes and heart problems.

To provide free vitamin supplies and detect signs of malnourishment in children
One of the elite schools in Kaup conducted a blood test for all the 1000+ children in that school. A shocking 60% of them were anemic! Majority of the students belonged to upper class and the parents claimed their children ate well. So, the reason was either improper diet or worm infestations. Further investigation suggested that the anemia was due to a combination of both bad food habits and worm infestations. Parents fed their children with lots of rice (it is an ancient South Indian belief that rice strengthens bones) and deep-fried greasy, high calorie fast food. In addition, most of them are vegetarians. The children often drank water without boiling. Kaup has no town water/sewage. People own water wells and septic tanks on their property. The properties were quite small and hence the wells were lying close to the septic tanks. Since most of the homes are built by contractors with little or no background in architecture or engineering it is no surprise that the wells were contaminated with sewage. Kaup municipality has no water testing facility. The school provided vitamin supplements for the children with the help of local Rotary Club.

This disaster could have been easily prevented had the parents known what their kids should eat or that they had to boil drinking water. Middle and lower class children do not even get tested. An annual course of vitamin supplements and a physical checkup to detect anemia, worm infestations and other common ailments should help these children grow up to be healthy, productive adults. Handicapped, retarded children/adults are a burden to the families and often they are driven out of homes even though parents are the cause of their children's malnourishment. Indian government provides free annual polio vaccine. However, many parents forget to take their children to these camps. Many local schools have taken initiatives by sending the children to homes of other children to escort them to the health center. Even then the government did not succeed. Polio should have been eliminated in 2002 by Indian government's projection. Instead, it found hundreds of new cases despite an aggressive vaccine campaign. Why? There are rumors spread in Muslim areas that the polio vaccine is an experimental drug to brainwash the children, particularly Muslim children (one of the major parties in the ruling United Front is a staunch supporter of Hinduism) and that the vaccine would kill all the Muslim children!

I think these elderly made a huge mistake by not saving money for their old age. Our goal also includes teaching everyone about retirement savings. But it is too late for the elderly. We want to raise money to open a home for the elderly or send healthcare workers to help them at their own homes. We will have some revenues if the healthy elderly earn some money by baby sitting or by running home-based businesses with the help of our volunteers. They can also be the "grandparents" to children who do not have any. But we want to make them feel useful and live with dignity.

To educate people about mental disorders and managing the family members with mental disorders
Mentally disabled people suffer a lot from ill-treatment. It is ancient Indian belief that the unhappy dead relatives wander around as ghosts and possess the people who harrassed them while living. For example, a daughter-in-law gets possessed by a mother-in-law, as revenge. Some daughter-in-laws pretend to be possessed by their mother-in-law's mother-in-law and while in that possessed state, they tell the mother-in-law to treat her daughter-in-law with respect. of course, since the mother-in-law is scared of being harassed by this ghost, will treat the daughter-in-law better. In most cases, the possessed people are women. They do this in order to get attention or to get a better treatment. Since nobody pays attention to their needs or dignity, they pretend to be possessed and tell through the ghost's mouth. Most of the time this works. However, it backfires if the relatives are not scared of these ghosts or try rituals to drive away the ghosts. Beating the possessed with a broom or a stick till they are collapsed, is one such ritual. Naturally, the affected person resists these rituals. These protests are ignored. The wealthy family takes one step further. They consult the astrologer to see if a god is unhappy with the affected person and conduct rituals to please that god. If this does not work, they try to give electric shocks in order to drive away the "ghost" that is hiding in the victim's body. Since the victim never really gets any treatment, he/she gets worse. Such people are put to isolation at home or driven away for good. They end up living on the streets and beg for a living. If they are women, they are raped. The children born in this way are abandoned. Relatives of some patients with mental disorders rather tell the world that the are possessed than saying they have mental disorders. It is huge stigma to have a relative with mental problems. If there is one and everyone knows about it, the girls in the family will not find guys to marry. This is why everyone either hides them or get rid of them.

If we convince the people that mental disorders are like any other disorders and can be managed, they may try to give such people some kind of treatment. Moreover, if we educate them that the people with mental disorders can live a normal life if proper care is taken they might be more inclined accept that these people have mental disorders. We want to collaborate with the local hospitals and distribute literature on the mental disorders.

To educate people about most common but debilitating diseases such as AIDS, Polio, Filariasis etc.
Most people do not know how one gets AIDS and those who have high chances of getting it, have no clue what AIDS means. Many people think they have AIDS if they have persistent cough or weakness caused by some other illness. This is because they read in the newspapers that AIDS patients get pneumonia and feel weak all the time but they have no idea how one contracts the disease. It is no surprise because sex-related topics are never discussed. Parents do not ever tell their children how to protect themselves from AIDS but they rather pretend their children do not know anything about sex. AIDS patients don't even acknowledge publicly or to their spouses that they have AIDS because if they do, they will be isolated from the society.

They do not know that Polio can be prevented by vaccines and Filariasis and Malaria can be prevented by destroying mosquito population. With the help of local hospitals, we want to organize an outreach program to clean up stagnant water, spray insecticides and educate people to dispose wastes in a proper manner. Also, show them videos about AIDS and cancer.

To educate on Infertility and super fertility issues
Women who deliver female babies are denigrated by their mother-in-laws and the husband because she brought bad luck. Bride's father has to pay huge sums (to cover a new home or a car for the bridegroom) to the bridegroom's family before the wedding. Many times if the sum is not paid in full, the bride is harassed and beaten to death. Naturally, the parents consider female baby a burden. New technologies like ultrasound are used to detect the sex of the baby (though it is illegal) so that female fetus can be destroyed. If a wife does not produce a son or produces no children, the parents of the husband will look for another girl to marry him. The first wife and her female children are abandoned. These women do not know that they are not responsible for the sex of the baby. Further, they do not know that a male can be responsible for the couple's infertility. Providing education on these issues can save many women who otherwise are set on fire or simply made to commit suicide. The need for a son influences the decision of how children does one want. Some may have upto 7 girls until the 8th one is a boy! Others may have 5 boys so that their assets will be 5 fold (by demanding dowry). Indian government is spending a lot on family planning, to keep the number of offspring to 2 but the people are not listening. Muslims and Christians can not use birth control devices because it is against their religion. They do not know that having too many children will affect them adversely because these children do not get enough attention or nutrition. We want to address this issue by explaining how it would affect them adversely.

To sponsor courses in healthy habits and community health
Videos covering Waste disposal, keeping the area surrounding the home clean, getting rid of stray animals, providing proper ventilation to kitchens and bathrooms that use coal/wood burning stoves, boiling drinking water, dental hygiene, proper nutrition, sex education will be developed. In addition, we will teach workers to enforce their safety issues (like painters who use spray paints should be given proper safety masks, AIDS worker should be given disposable gloves).