Public Health

   Around mid August this year, 21 volunteers from 14 countries arrived in southern India to work and learn from marginalized communities about their challenges pertinent to health and sanitation. They were part of "Health on Stage", a six week project where they learnt to use forum theatre to initiate simultaneous dialogues on public health in low income areas of Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai. And on 30th September, the 3 groups of participants, their trainers and faciliators gathered in Bangalore to share their experiences with healthcare professionals, media persons and theatre artists.It is well known that water related illnesses are…

Do you know how much of the pollution in the world is caused by cars? Some studies put that at 40%. As a result, some across the globe have chosen to observe 22nd September as World Car Free Day. ESAF, a Bangalore based not-for-profit organization that is campaigning to make the city a child friendly one, decided to do its bit to create awareness on the advantage of not using cars. On the 21st, the NGO has planned to distribute handbills along with 2 English and 1 Kannada newspapers to persuade car users to consider taking public transport. "Some friends…

The death of two-year old Sandeep a few months ago brought back the debate on the vexing issue of stray dogs in Bengaluru. The city is divided with animal lovers opposing mass culling of strays, with an equally vocal group advocating culling as the only solution. There's plenty of food for man's best friend on the street, what with all the eateries around. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. Following Sandeep's death, in July, Rajesh Shukla, 39, an entrepreneur in Bangalore decided to get involved. Apart from consulting US-based forensic experts to get their opinion on Sandeep's death, Shukla started www.strays.in, to "Provide…

The following two blood donation camps will take place at Bangalore this weekend: 1. On Sun 14th Aug 2011 between 11.00am and 1.00pm at Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church, Hebbal Kempapura.( Behind Esteem Mall after Hebbal Flyover en route to new Airport.) To turn right to entrance, one has to go upto Kodigehalli Cross and take U turn and come back to Esteem Mall and take left. 2. On Mon 15th Aug 2011(Independence Day) at Shiridi Sai Cultural Centre, 2, Syndicate Bank Colony, opp Kamakshipalya Police Station, Basaweshwaranagar Post from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Those staying in and around those areas and…

Among the many times that I wonder about how the extremely marginalized cope with an empty stomach is when I hear the words "Mummy, I am hungry" on television. It is the ad jingle for a snack popular with children and youth since it entered India over twenty five years back. And it reminds me of the umpteen choices of 'fast' foods (usually unhealthy), available in urban areas. But, unlike the mum in the commercial, mothers of many children in this unenviable position cannot conjure up anything filling or tasty in two minutes! Take the case of Vimala and her…

After starting to use BMTC buses, one of our federation members, Jayvant Anantpur, wrote a nice article why we should still use BMTC instead of our personal vehicles in Bangalore. Read on... I agree that we should try to use BMTC as much as possible. I have been trying to do that for one year now and have successfully figured out how to commute by BMTC from Bellandur gate to IISc (between Malleshwaram & Yeshwantpur).I won't say the bus rides are very smooth etc but when compared to driving my car or going by auto/taxi, I think going by BMTC…

The members of Achieve Academy have organised an event called "Cycle On Bangalore - A fight against Pollution", a cycling trail, on January 16, 2011. A participation of 500 members has been set as our target. We have also received a confirmation of 200 members.. Route: Madhavan Ground to Vidhan Soudha via, Ashoka pillar, Double road, Kanteerava Stadium, Cubbon Park ands return. The event starts at 7AM.Please participate in large numbers and help spread the awareness of pollution to a wider extent. For registrations and more information contact:Dimple - 9916602447 Vittal - 9611328858 Online registrations can be done through this…

When we have a party at home, we take good care to clean up every trace of it afterwards, to return to a spic-and-span home...so why do we not take the same responsibility in our city?Here is a photo taken by Girish S V, in HSR Layout, of an open area, the day after Deepavali:We blithely assume that "someone" will come and clean up the mess that we've made, in the process of enjoying ourselves. All it would take is a little effort, to clean it up ourselves...but we seem to lack the civic sense, the sense of pride that…

Northeast monsoons are here and the fear of rise in Dengue and Chikungunya cases, is still very real. In the urban environment, it seems inevitable that high population and frequent movement of infected people increase the risk of infections. This is true in cases of large apartment complexes too. People residing in such complexes can take some easy steps to reduce the menace of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which is responsible for spreading Dengue and Chikungunya. Water collected in discarded items such as coconut shells serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes. File Pic Water collected in discarded items such as…

Almost every other week, outside my office on Sarjapur Road, I see an elderly gentleman stopping by a tree in the morning, to relieve himself.  A Nirmala Shauchalaya stands barely 100 metres away from this recipient tree. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget ambitiously speaks about a lot that the city needs - storm water drains, flyovers, underpasses, parks, playgrounds - so on and so forth. A lot of criticism has gone the way of the budget, pooh-poohing the amount of loans that the corporation is planning to take and slamming the massive revenue projections. Plans have been made…