Informed adolescents — adults with choices

About 40% of girls in rural Maharashtra still marry before the legal age of 18 (46% in 2008; boys 2%).

The numbers are declining slowly, but are still twice as high as in urban areas. These young women are more likely to be uninformed about sex and contraception, have lower self-confidence, to make fewer decisions about their own lives, and to believe domestic violence is justified. See more
Informing this vulnerable population and removing taboos against seeking treatment is crucial. Adolescents of both sexes are key target groups for PRASAD’s preventive health care.

Preventing Rubella

Rubella (German Measles) can cause miscarriages and birth defects. Seeing many young women affected, PRASAD Chikitsa obtained a grant from the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to pilot a rubella awareness and vaccination campaign. It has been a huge success.
The first clinic on 8 December 2015 aimed to attract 300. News of the clinic spread through villages by word of mouth, via Women’s Self-Help Groups and Arogyavardhinis (Social Health Activists) trained by PRASAD. 927 young women registered; hundreds more arrived. Extra medical staff were persuaded to volunteer and 1000 were vaccinated on the day. The pilot is over but clinics still draw large crowds, and girls pay part of the cost. See more

This one time intervention – a $3 injection – is life changing.  
Your gift of $15 could immunise 5 girls against rubella

Health Talks

PRASAD doctors visit schools all over the Tansa Valley, speaking to groups of boys and groups of girls, 12–17 years. They answer questions on physiology and menstruation, sexually transmitted and other infections. Nutrition, hygiene and legal issues arising from underage marriage are also covered. See more

Educating for Health

Self-Help Groups and Social Health Activists trained by PRASAD operate at village level. PRASAD also supplements nutrition and monitors health via schools. Healthy students attend school more regularly. Increased schooling is linked to a life of better health, confidence and options.

Helping more students to complete secondary education and access job training is vital. See more

‘‘I receive much, much more than the little I give”

Long time supporter Dr Moni Lai Storz is a cross-cultural consultant. Moni also hosts fundraising events.
Having seen PRASAD’s medical clinics in India, she knows her contributions truly help people in need. Moni speaks beautifully of the grace she feels in being part of this work, saying she receives “much, much more” than she gives.

Fundraising can be as simple as inviting people to donate to PRASAD instead of a birthday or Christmas present, or in memory of someone dear. Our supporters have hosted film nights, dinners and cooking classes. The website makes it easy to donate in honor of a particular occasion.Three-minute videos and other information about PRASAD can be downloaded from the Newsroom.
Like to know more? Contact us — We would love to talk to you.

Karen Workman

Thank you and farewell to PRASAD Australia Director Karen Workman, who stepped down in February.

Karen has served for more than 13 years, raising funds with tireless passion and creativity.
What a contribution!
We wish her all the very best.

It’s a thirsty time of year – but what if the only water you had caused diarrhoea and carried fatal diseases?

This is reality for many in India’s Tansa Valley.

Nearly 75% of all diseases in India are due to contaminated water. Diarrhoea kills many children every year. It causes weight loss and stunted growth, as well as vitamin deficiencies which cause malnutrition.  Malnourished children are more likely to get sick and be sick for longer; more likely to drop out of school, earn less and live in poverty.

The good news is that many waterborne diseases are preventable. Investing in clean water and sanitation offers excellent returns that can break this cycle.

With your help, PRASAD works with communities to improve sanitation and bring them water free from filth, bacteria and parasites that carry cholera, typhoid and jaundice, and cause diarrhoea.

Did you know water and sanitation are human rights?

In 2010, United Nations resolution 64/292 recognized the human right to water and sanitation. It also acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights.  Read more…

Point of use purification

Heavy duty Swatch filters are cheap, simple and suited to rural homes. Filter life depends on local water quality and usage. PRASAD finds one filter provides a family of five with affordable drinking water for 4 – 6 months. Villagers pay 40% of the filter’s discounted cost.

Your $12 gift can bring a family months of clean drinking water

PRASAD Chikitsa staff talking at community meetings about the health and financial benefits of pure drinking water and availability of subsidized water filters.

Kavita’s children with their purifier

Clean water changes lives

Mrs Kavita Adga and family from Koshimshet Village struggled to make ends meet. After rice paddy season the parents left home to work in brick factories. The children fended for themselves but often fell ill, needing a parent back to care for them.

Kavita learnt about the benefits of clean drinking water at her PRASAD Self-Help Group, and sought help. Six months access to filtered water had a dramatic effect.
The family thrived, health costs dropped, the parents were free to earn.  The children attended school regularly, carrying water bottles filled from home.

Kavita said, “Being Adivasi [tribal] we couldn’t afford or even dream of buying a water filter…. Now we are free of many diseases which were very common in our family, thanks to PRASAD Chikitsa.”

When wells go dry

Learning how to maintain and repair the new pump at Tambadmal

May 2015: three tribal hamlets, Tambadmal, Ambakaspada and Karelapada, faced severe shortages. Even at dawn, their wells had barely 2 or 3 pots of water. Fetching water, traditionally a woman’s job, meant a daily 1 – 2 km trek or a dangerous climb into deep wells or ponds.

Official Avenues failed but PRASAD responded. When staff heard of the crisis via the local Self-Help Group, they quickly reviewed  efforts to get help, assessed local needs and options. A well-researched proposal secured TATA Motors funding for the Sumant Mulgaonkar Development Foundation to drill new wells and install hand pumps.

In June 2015 each village had a new well and hand pump. Locals were trained to maintain them and make simple repairs. In all three communities, convenient access to water had replaced the daily trek to the river or a parched well with a heavy can.

Ambakaspada’s schoolteacher, Mr Dattatreya Thakare, said:  “This is indeed prasad [a blessed gift] …. we will never forget the efforts taken by PRASAD Chikitsa, standing by us during this critical situation.”

Water and soil conservation

PRASAD’s Water and soil conservation initiative targets better water management by equipping villagers to combat soil erosion and keep drinking wells pure. Villagers and Women’s Self-Help Groups, like Ghotogon’s, are helped to make dams; restore bunds or embankments to prevent run off; remove waste and silt from wells and keep surrounds clean. Organic farming  reduces the pollution of ground and surface water.

Our supporters: Dr Doug, Jude and Ella Davis

“We love what PRASAD does in India.”

Dr Doug and Jude Davies and their family are long time supporters.
Their Enerchi Medical Clinic in Melbourne, which offers Chinese Traditional Medicine and other natural health modalities, has helped individuals find a balance in body, mind and spirit for more than 25 years.

Their daughter Ella, the Clinic’s Practice Manager, said “we were looking for a way to give back. PRASAD made sense. We feel aligned to their values, and their work does so much for tribal communities who don’t have many options.”

It doesn’t get more basic – but in India’s Tansa Valley this is news.

Villagers lining a toilet soak pit

Unsafe water, poor sanitation and lack of hygiene are still common causes of illness and death. Many of these diseases are preventable.

‘Bang for development buck’ investing in water and sanitation is high on the list. The World Health Organisation says each $1 invested could yield an economic return of between $3 and $34 and save up to $7.3 billion per year world wide.

Of the 1 billion people in the world who have no toilet, nearly 600 million are in India. It is impossible to keep faeces from crops, wells, food and children’s hands. Ingested bacteria and worms spread diseases, especially of the intestine. Diseases which in turn help to explain why rates of child malnourishment in India are not improving faster. Lack of toilets is also a safety issue for young women who have to leave their homes after dark.

Access is not the only issue. Cultural attitudes are also important, such as seeing toilets as impure, especially when located near the home.

PRASAD Chikitsa has been improving water and sanitation through its model village initiative since 2014. Staff meet with villagers to explain the health and economic benefits of building a toilet – a two soak pit latrine. Each family helped to build one puts in a lot of hard work and some of the materials, which builds their commitment to the change.

How building toilets changes lives

Ms Perry Batra, Nandani Village Area   “Every year the rainy season was a curse”

Mrs. Perry Batra and her family live in a tiny house in the forest, outside the tribal village of Nandani, five km from Ganeshpuri. Her husband left long ago. Mrs Batra now cares for her mother aged 100, and her brother who is paralyzed and suffers from mental illness. Her two sons are illiterate and are cognitively impaired. The whole family depends on a small piece of land and scant ‘daily wages work’ for their livelihood.

Mrs. Batra attended village meetings with PRASAD staff about water and sanitation and put her name down to build a family toilet. She thought this would help her brother and mother in particular, saying that “every year the rainy season is a curse” for people without facilities.

As soon as she knew what was required she started work- digging the two soak pits herself with help from her sons. PRASAD provided guidance and materials in two stages as the work progressed. Delivering bags of cement, a ceramic toilet pot, a pipe and a door frame; then later roofing, a door and kadappa (stone slabs) to cover the soak pits.

The family completed it quickly. Even Mrs Batra’s mother got involved, spraying water on the newly plastered wall.

Mrs. Batra said “Carrying out my family responsibilities is a very tough task. People show sympathy to me, but no one comes forward to support. PRASAD Chikitsa is exceptional. I am really thankful for their efforts and support which will change our lives.”