“What’s the use of progress and development if one day it’s going to be wiped out by an epidemic?” queries the home page of Little Drops, which sports several such hard-hitting messages aimed at jolting the public into health awareness. Launched by a committed coalition of 70 medical practitioners of the Chennai-based Stanley Medical College (class of 1955), who staged a grand reunion on January 15-16, 2005 to celebrate the golden jubilee of their medical careers, Little Drops was inspired by former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s ‘Vision 2020 —Health for All’ monograph. Pledging to actualise Kalam’s vision, the doctors constituted the Golden Jubilee Stanleynians Charitable Trust (GJSCT) in August 2006 with an initial corpus of Rs.3 lakh to promote Little Drops, an inclusive community initiative to educate generation next about emerging health challenges. The trust’s Little Drops website provides detailed information of the project and invites people from all over the country to participate in its mission.
“A health crisis is waiting to explode in India, a country characterised by population density, pervasive illiteracy, poverty and public apathy. Economic development has increased environmental pollution, worsened living conditions and has created ideal conditions for the spread of epidemics and other fatal diseases. We want people to become aware that good health practices and hygienic environments are essential for enjoying the fruits of development. The objective of Little Drops is to educate children on community health issues, by partnering with schools in Chennai and engaging students and teachers in identifying health hazards and devising preventive health practices,” says Dr. R. Rabindranath, one of the promoters of GJSCT and project co-ordinator of Little Drops. A family physician since 1962, Rabindranath is also the founder of Dr. Rabindran’s Health Care Centre, Ambattur, a suburb of Chennai.
Little Drops plans to adopt an action-oriented, participatory programme to enable children to witness and experience the benefits of personal and environmental hygiene, the twin thrust areas of the programme. To sensitise and motivate teachers to advocate good hygiene, workshops are conducted by experienced resource persons. Children are encouraged to work in teams, made to identify insanitary conditions and suggest what school managements or municipal authorities can collectively do to improve them. Teachers of 30 schools have attended Little Drops’ workshops, and two booklets have been published to help them with innovative approaches on the subject.
The NGO’s learning-by-doing programme is making an impact, with participating schools showing consi-derable enthusiasm for its initiatives. Nevertheless GJSCT spokespersons specify that community participation is essential for disseminating the message of health and hygiene. “We want schools and communities to work together to promote hygienic practices, otherwise there will be a huge gap between what is taught in schools and what is practiced at home. We also want people to form local committees to propagate Little Drops’ message in schools, motivate teachers to implement the programme and monitor projects,” says Rabindranath.
Power to your elbow!
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)