2015-16 Annual Report Content MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY/ PRESIDENT 1 About Us 2 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan/ Environment/ Water & Sanitation Construction of toilets in Punjab and Meghalaya 3 WASH Programme 4 Restoration of Schools 5 Active Ageing / Care of the aged Geriatrics Care 6 Day Care services for Dementia and Stroke 7 Care Giver Training 8 Nutrition Support 9 Rural Health Mobile Health Units 10 Health Camps 11 Disaster Response 12 Balance Sheet 13 Annexures 25 MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY/ PRESIDENT Dear All, construction/ renovation of toilets in Punjab and Meghalaya in Ever since its inception in 1988, Society collaboration with HDFC Bank, for Action in Community Health (SACH) Geriatrics Center set up in New Delhi has engaged in activities spread with the help of Help Age India and across variety of areas like health, Asian Paints, Project Hope, USA to education, skill development, water train over 4000 Diabetes Educators and sanitation, geriatrics care, hunger under flagship India Diabetes Educator and relief and disaster response. Program (IDEP), Meals Package More than 25 years dedicated to the Programme with Broadcom to sustainable interventions has earned address poverty conditions such as the organisaation the goodwill, which hunger and malnutrition or the, SACH still inspire us to carry this legacy has ensured that its partnerships forward. remain credible and interventions effective and lasting. All these years, we have adhered to the best practices and endeavoured to The year has also special to me as we create a space for new and emerging are looking forward to start the Holistic social commitments for the Rural Development Programme in two marginalised and the socially states -Punjab and Meghalaya- very excluded. The ISO certification soon. We are trying hard to take our awarded to GRTC for its credible footprint to more regions in near future services and transparency is a to make SACH a pan India testimony to this. organisation. We take this opportunity to announce I wish those associated with SACH all the successful implementation of the best. School Restoration Programme in Jammu and Kashmir and Yours construction/renovation of sanitation facilities in over 250 schools in Punjab and Meghalaya started in 2015 under Hon'ble Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Our partners matter to us the most. Whether it is renovation of schools in K P Rajendaran flood ravaged J&K in and Society for Action in Community Health (SACH) Page 1 About Us ociety for Action in Community Health (SACH) has come a long way since it was founded 1988 by a group of medical professionals. Initially focused on Spolicy advocacy to improve the access of the urban poor to public health services in India, the organisation over the years grew to become one of the pioneering models for sustainable interventions in the area of policy and program formulation in health sector. Some of the major inventions during this period included Geriatrics Center set up in Pitampura, New Delhi with the help of HelpAge India, and the collaboration with Project Hope, USA in 2008, to train over 4000 Diabetes Educators under flagship India Diabetes Educator Program (IDEP) by partnering with leading endocrinologists, researchers and medical education institutions in Delhi, Kolkata, Indore, Pune, Vellore and Bangalore. But in the past one decade, SACH sought to expand beyond the health issues related to urban poor and engaged in other activities with new emerging new challenges. In 2015, SACH joined hands with HDFC and successfully implemented School Restoration Project in 14 schools which were devastated by 2014 floods and constructed/renovated around 300 sanitation units in Meghalaya and Punjab. SACH launched Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program in the same regions and schools where these sanitation units were constructed. Simultaneously, SACH started a Meal Packaging Prorgramme with Broadcom and implementing partner Stop Hunger Now (SHN) to address the poverty conditions like hunger and malnutrition in Bengaluru. SACH managed to reach out to the people living in rural areas by proving them access to health care through Mobile Medical Units in Banka and Prakasam districts of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh respectively. SACH effectively intervened in urban governance through a project for Sustainable Development for Ganga- Yamuna River ecosystems in Allahabad Region in 2016, with support from Global Green. Earlier, SACH partnered with Global Green Fund in 2014 to help deprived communities access right to water and sanitation, water for drinking and domestic needs and sanitation and solid waste management in selected slum areas in Delhi. SACH also spread awareness about sanitation and hygiene with GIZ. SACH conducted a study during 2012-13) to delve into the causes of pollution to river Ganges in the city of Kanpur with India Water Partnership (IWP) and Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development (SPWD) Delhi. As for future initiatives, SACH will be focusing on village development project in Punjab and Meghalaya and on promoting a multi-state cooperative of health workers. Page 2 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan/ Environment/ Water & Sanitation Construction of toilets in Punjab and Meghalaya overnment's major focus on Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the improvement of school sanitation facilities provided an opportunity to GSACH to make major intervention on this front in Meghalaya and Punjab. If we talk specifically about Meghalaya, it is among the top five states in India, where school sanitation facilities can be termed as poor. Despite the best efforts of the state government, the specific geographical, financial and other constraints have posed a great challenge to the government to provide adequate sanitation facilities to the schools. As per a report by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DISE), Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, 94% schools in the state either don't have toilets or they are dysfunctional. The situation in Punjab is no better. Under the Hon Prime Minister's Swachha Bharat Mission, SACH joined hands with HDFC Bank to construct 167 sanitation facilities under School Sanitation Project (SSP) in 136 public schools in Meghalaya which include thosse under Department of Education, Govt of Meghalaya and under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). The initiative has covered 88 villages from four districts. They are- East Khasi Hills (8 schools from 7 villages), Ri Bhoi (36 schools), Jaintia Hills (Undivided) (54 schools) and West Khasi Hills (38 schools). In Punjab, 157 sanitations in 118 schools were constructed in 10 districts. They are- Amritrsar, Ludhiana, Ropar, Fategarh Sahib, Moga, Firozpur, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarantaran, and Gurdaspur. Page 3 WASH Programme The module designed for the WASH It is estimated that 88% of diarrheal disease is caused by unsafe water supply, project includes and inadequate sanitation and hygiene. Many schools serve communities that the following: have a high prevalence of diseases related to inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and where child malnutrition and other underlying • Dissemination of health problems are common. knowledge & awareness SACH believes that schools provide excellent opportunities to support sanitation • Responsibilities of and hygiene promotion programs. Keeping this in mind SACH with support from school authorities/ HDFC Bank launched Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme (WASH) to Training improve health through better sanitation and hygiene. Construction and use of • Personal Hygiene appropriate child friendly sanitary facilities (handwashing stations, soap and • Hand Wash toilets) can be especially effective in reducing the incidence of diarrhea and other water borne diseases. • Use and maintenance of Toilets- Do's and Schools may be better locations to enforce certain behaviors in children than the Don'ts home. Schools can also provide an arena where sanitation can be showcased at its best, and certain positive hygienic behaviors (hand washing with soap • Responsibility of before eating and after going to the toilet) can become an engrained habit at a Sanitation Supervisor / young age. Cleaning staff Nevertheless, hygiene promotion in school cannot rely solely on teaching and • Students Can Keep enforcing certain habits. Research has shown that children will more willingly School Premises change behavior if they are having fun and if they are following their peers. Neat and Clean By Imitation is one of the most successful forms of learning; hence young children • Involvement of will look to their older brothers and sisters or to older school friends to adopt Local Community new behaviors and life skills. • How to keep water sources/wells/ septic tanks clean • The Water Borne Diseases Page 4 Restoration of Schools he unprecedented floods in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014 threw lives of SACH carried millions out of gear. It not only devastated the state's infrastructures, but the following also severely affected health services and educational institutions. As per activities on this T front. government estimates, more than 2500 schools buildings in the state were affected by the floods. The scale of damage to school buildings was such that • Restored school majority of them faced closure at the time of floods and are still holding classes buildings and in dilapidated buildings. infrastructure. • Constructed of As part of response to this calamity, SACH through its CSR initiative with HDFC sanitation facilities- Bank LTD. restored/ improved the conditions of 13 schools in Kashmir region. As Urinals/toilets for a result of this these which were on the verge of closing down, have become girls and boys: The functional again. sanitation facilities were fully damaged by the floods. These were rebuilt. • Provided furniture and fixtures: Tables, Chairs, lights and fans, water purifiers and water coolers & whiteboards were provided to all schools. • Set up science Lab and the existing lab facilities were upgraded. • Set up computer labs and libraries. • Provided school uniforms and text books for economically weaker sections for this academic year as the parents of these children have lost their livelihoods due to flooding of the farm land and thus face difficulties in playground.