India and her woes

A small slum on the side of the highway in Delhi

Friday June 8, 2007

We visited Sahara's Women and Children's Center which takes in abused and trafficked women as well as drug addicts to give them a safe place for themselves and their children. The center also counsels them on drug addiction and teaches them practical skills to help them find employment. Unfortunately, a lot of the women leave the center without completing the program, some leave because their abusive or addict husbands come to take them back and they willingly go, but return some time later for the same reasons, so it's a vicious cycle.

In the afternoon we visited Sahara's Men's Drug Rehabilitation Center and sat in at a group session in which the men were talking about the challenges of the past week and the small goals they set for themselves for the coming week.

Having been here for two weeks now, I'm starting to form a more complete picture of India, her people, and its challenges. There are so many public health issues in India:
1. Sanitation: the sewage channels are above ground and often filled with stagnant water which leads to an atrocious stink and undoubtedly contributes to the overabundance of mosquitoes and results in endemic malaria. I'm not sure if the government is doing something about this but there is lots of roadside work going on, so hopefully there will be some improvements. The city is trying to beautify itself for the 2010 Commonwealth Games so perhaps some of these issues will be addressed.
2. Poverty and slums. There is a huge migrant and mostly illiterate population that comes from the villages looking for work and there's not enough affordable housing for them and India has squatter's rights laws so they build makeshift tent-like dwellings on the sides of the roads and live in absolute squalor. According to some public health people we've talked to the government and the private sector are trying to create more employment opportunities for them back in their villages so they will stay there, but there's a real estate boom going on in Delhi right now, probably due to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, so the migrants come for the construction jobs.
3. Infectious Disease: The above described living conditions and poverty are the poverty are the perfect breeding ground for TB, HIV, and Malaria. The public health system seems to be doing a good job but there's only so much they can do for a billion people.

There are so many more issues but we are on our way to Jaipur so I must say Namaste for now and will return to PH issues later, including begging children, women's rights or lack thereof etc.