It
is a great matter of relief for us that reputed company like Unilever
Foundation and Domex have joined hands with Unicef to help improve
access to basic sanitation for millions of people in India where open
defecation is one of the biggest challenge to health! About 597
million people defecate in open and open defecation makes them
susceptible to the attack various disease causing microbial organisms
like bacteria, amoeba and viruses. Due to weak body functions
children like Babli are more prone to these diseases. Shockingly fact
sheets suggest that 20% of death of children under 14 years of age
are due to improper sanitation and poor hygiene! It is more scary to
know that in such scenario, less than 6% of rural children in India
under 6 years of age use toilet facilities which allows us to deduce
that rest 94% defecate in open fields! Let us spread awareness of
the health hazards of open defecation and add up to the noble Domex
Initiative.
As
I mentioned before, more than 94% of village kids like Babli are
defecating in open, they are subjected to dangerous bacterial, viral
and worm infections. Diarrhea and worm infection being two common
diseases affecting school going children, 443 million school days are
lost every year! Not only education is affected. Ill health causes
malnutrition and stunting to these affected children. We can feel the
gravity of this social health problem by the data that 215,000
children under five years of age die from diarrhea alone every year
and India has highest number of under-5 death globally! It is time to
act my friends. Let us save our future generation from the curse of
this age old habit of open defecation. Let us work together to give
them a better future, a healthier tomorrow, a hygienic country to
grow.
Millennium
development goal aims at basic sanitation, toilets, latrines and hand
wash and at our current rate of progress facts suggest we would be
able to cover just 67% of the target goal. So, we need to focus more
and speed up improvement on sanitation sector in our country. CATS
(community approaches to total sanitation) programs by Unicef focus
on advocating demands for sanitation at the community level. We can
volunteer in CATS by educating the community about the scenario of
open defecation in our country so that open defecators stop
defecating in open out of a sense of responsibility and concern, not
merely for temporary eyewash. Mass media must be involved to bring
about a greater turnover on our effort. We can take peaceful
goodnight sleep when Open Defecation Free status is achieved, the day
when each and every Indian family would use its own toilet facility
and no Babli has to fall sick by defecating in the open.
Let
us act. You
can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby
showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is
“click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in
and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open
defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.
Image Source: https://www.indiblogger.in/happyhours/toilet-for-babli/
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