PGIMER Starts Swatch Indira Colony Abhiyan at Indira Colony

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh 28^th Jan, 2019:- A  two week drive of Swatch Indira colony Abhiyan  under Swatch Bharat Abhiyan commenced  at Indira Colony, Manumajra that is being organized by the urban Health Training Center, Department of  Community Medicine and school of Public Health , PGIMER, Chandigarh.Since 2016, PGIMER  is conducting Swatch Indira Colony Abhiyaan under the guidance of Prof J S Thakur, Professor ,Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER with the objective to clean the colony and reduce the disease burden. 

 Dr Har Ashish Jindal Senior Resident, Dr Atul Gupta, Junior resident and  Multipurpose Health workers organized a rally to mark the occasion with a theme “ Swatch colony swasat colony.” The rally nearly had 100 persons with community leaders, Multipurpose Health workers, Anganwadi workers, sanitary workers, and local residents. In India, Diarrhea is the third most common cause of death in under-five children, responsible for 13% deaths, killing an estimated 300,000 childreneach year. Washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrheal diseases by 42-47%. Improved sanitation can reduce rates of diarrhoeal diseases by 32%–37%. The resident feel threatened with diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, cholera, typhoid which are preventable.

 Indira colony has a population of nearly 30,000. And in 2017, 20,912 patients seen at the urban health centre with 843 cases of diarrhea and 86 cases of acute lower respiratory diseases in children 0-5 yrs.

During rally,  Dr Har Ashish Jindal emphasized on prevention of  diseases is possible only  with adequate sanitation is a must. Messages were given during the rally the house hold waste in the dustbins, hand hygiene after urinals and going to toilet and before eating food is a must. The health of the society is the responsibility of the individuals living in it. The family must teach behaviour of putting garbage in the dustbins. The  first week programme will focus on to improve street cleaning, cleaning of railway dumps,  improve awareness of  best practices in sanitation in  parents teacher meeting  and motivate individuals to clean  their  homes and institutions. The second week will focus on getting support from government officials for the Swatch Indira Colony Abhiyan to clear out a major garbage dump behind Shiv mandir, Indira Colony. It is expected that disease burden will decrease with adequate safe water and sanitation.