Avishkaar 11

Avishkaar 11 is project by the Social Engineering Forum at National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode. The project aims at supporting socially relevant ideas from the community by offering technological support. Hopes to act as a link between the institution and innovative ideas in the community. Prof Unnikrishnan of Department Chemistry is the contact person for the project
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Nanma initiatives

Nanma initiatives in Kerala attempt to facilitate redifining of goals, ambitions and philosophy in life among children. The focus is on students belonging to lower socio economic class. Nanma attemts to help them realise their inner potential. Nanma projects are now active in seven locations in Kerala.
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Palliative Care in Bangladesh

Palliative Care in Bangladesh seems to be entering a new phase with the recently concluded 2nd International Conference on Palliative Care and Public Health. Dr Nezam and his team has shown what can be achieved in a short period of five years. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University,co organiser of the conference along with Institute of Palliative Medicine (India) and Bath Univesity(UK) is poised to move to a lead role in palliative care in the sub continent. Five new posts of doctors and ten new posts of nurses sanctioned in BSMMU by Govt of Bangladesh. 15 beds allotted to the new unit. The President of Bangladesh laid the foundation stone for a new palliative care center at the University. President of the country also reaffirmed his government's commitment to develop palliative care as part of primary health care in the country.
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Our Responsibility to Children

Our Responsibility to Children (ORC) is an initiative in Calicut (Kerala) city by City Police in association with Civil Society. ORC aims to prevent, identify early and address social deviation among students. ORC aims to create healthy environment in and around schools to encourage students to engage constructively in life. ORC groups with parents, teachers, students, police and people from the neighbourhood have been formed in 10 schools in Calicut as part of the pilot project. Project has been active in Calicut for the last few months but getting formally launched on 23 January 2011 at 10 am at Town Hall, Calicut
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Can you spare 3 rupees everyday for 3 years.....u may be able to grant someone dignity in life!

The Palliative Care movement is more than two decades old. Just its ability to survive and grow from strength to strength is a wonderful story. Community volunteers play a major role in the success and continuity of the program.
Volunteering in palliative care may come in many forms: serving food to a starving family, providing emotional support to the patient and her family, mobilizing healthcare support for the patient and supporting the family in fund raising for medicines and equipment, offering emotional support to the patient and family, providing administrative support to the group, etc.

One of the reasons for the success of this programme is that it has managed to have a healthy mix of trained and untrained volunteers. While untrained sensitized volunteers provide the all-important groundwork for the palliative care service by establishing a social support system eg; food for patients, transport, educational support for children and liasing with the local government, the trained volunteers through an intensive training program are able to support through basic nursing chores, mobility and provide emotional and psychological counseling.

Its no wonder then that the World Health Organisation recognizes this simple yet powerful model of providing healthcare and the Economist Intelligence Unit report hails this programme as a “beacon of hope”. Lets hope we see this programme replicated in many parts of India and the world.

Their new campaign "Tracks we Leave" is a simple yet powerful way of mobilising millions who want to support but are looking for an avenue to contribute- so if you think you can spare 3 rupees every day for 3 years, you can become a major contributor to this powerful programme as well. Will you?

community care for the living dead

There was this lady in my neighbourhood when I was growing up. Ever since I remember her, she was frail with wrinkles and white hair. She lived alone and one day I heard she was no more. She had been really unwell for a while and with no one to take care of her and tired of her increased stays at the hospital, and knowing she didn’t have much to live anyway, she committed suicide. I wish she had known about the Palliative Care network in Kerala.

Most people who are incurably ill need a little more than physical and medical support alone. Psycho-social and spiritual care is equally important, which is very difficult to materialize through institutionalized care. The physical complexities of progressive and life threatening disease, coupled with attendant emotional and psychological consequences, demand careful coordination between primary, secondary, and tertiary care. The community approach is the only realistic model for achieving significant coverage and continuity of services for terminally ill. This is a realistic option in most communities where inter personal relationships have not yet fully died out. And the Palliative care movement in Calicut, the teeming volunteers and the impact it has been creating over two decades shows that it is not just a pipe dream.

Building social capital for supporting cancer patients

October is the Breast Cancer awareness month.

This year my friends are raising awareness about Breast Cancer on Social Media networks, especially Facebook, through a meme that has to do with figuring out the best place you keep your bag!!! For example-"I like it on the couch", "I like it on the kitchen counter", "I like it on the dresser"- double entendre, no doubt, but catches attention of our male ilk and well, that’s the idea!! :)

I hope women discover breast cancer at an early stage as it greatly increases their chance of survival. But as I found in my mum’s case, not everyone gets lucky. Many of them succumb to the ferocity of the disease. Over 90% of all patients with cancer spend some time in hospital and in their stages last of life, more than 70% happen to be in a hospital or in a hospice. Most of them find it frightfully expensive to afford good quality hospital care. I am sure many who can afford would like to be with their near and dear ones and desire to die at a location that is a little more intimate and personal than a hospital, however wonderful it may be. But it’s not always possible given the difficult symptoms and lack of practical help at home. Patients who are frightened, insecure, or lack confidence in their support network or even their loved ones who only wish the best for them are more likely to seek urgent admission to a hospital or hospice, even when death is imminent.

Patients with advanced diseases require continuous care and attention for the rest of their lives. They are also in need of regular social, psychological and spiritual support in addition to the medical and nursing care, that is readily accessible and available as close to home as possible. There is enough social capital available to build a ‘safety net' in the community around these patients. And that really is the rationale of the Palliative care movemement and the aim of the Concern without Borders campaign. Join the campaign to determine how you can make a difference.