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Health & Sanitation Promoting Health and Dignity of Elderly: CSR Solutions for Toileting Challenges in...
Promoting Health and Dignity of Elderly: CSR Solutions for Toileting Challenges in a Rural Setting
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 calls for ensuring clean water sanitation for all and ensuring a toilet for all, it is one of the basic targets set under this goal. Defecating in the open has been an age-old practice in India, and when people have no option but to defecate in the open, it is not only inconvenient but poses high risk to public health as those defecating in open run the risk of catching or spreading infectious disease like diarrhoea to cholera and others. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is the National flagship program that has contributed to enormous progress in building household toilets.
The honourable Prime Minister of India declared in 2019 that the country has achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. While this achievement contributes to the pride and dignity of the nation, it is unfortunate that this progress has neglected the special needs of some of the most vulnerable sections of the population including the elderly and disabled. Particularly in Rural India, although every household is now provided with a toilet, it is not accessible or usable by the elderly. The new generation toilets financed under the SBM program of GOI in Rural areas are fitted with ground-level squatting pans and they do not seem to have taken into consideration the special needs of the elderly persons. No aiding facilities have been provided by the Government or families to ensure toilet accessibility for the elderly. Due to the discomfort caused by squatting, elderly persons fail to maintain personal hygiene and toilet cleanliness while defecating in their household toilet, and they are blamed as ‘bad toilet users’ by other family members. To avoid this embarrassment, many of the elderly persons are compelled to continue defecating in open surroundings in a standing position balancing precariously or hanging on to a rope which is tied to the roof of the toilet.
Lack of sensitivity, knowledge, local availability, and affordability of the aiding products is a major gap that is perpetuating the ‘toileting difficulty’ for elderly persons. Perhaps it is the fact that no village in the country can claim to have genuinely achieved 100% toilet access for elderly persons and that there is a compelling need for further progress to be made through innovative solutions or reaching the available solutions to those in need. Reaching the last mile requires much-focused effort and customized solutions to remove the barriers specific to each vulnerable category of the population.
Therefore, it was decided to Develop practical solutions to ensure accessible, safe and comfortable toilets for elderly persons and contribute to their independent living with dignity and self-respect. To address the above problem, Solon India Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, decided to fund the provision of toileting chairs under its CSR initiative. To do so, it was decided to team up with Modern Architects for Rural India (MARI) a highly credible NGO working with a good track record, to provide toileting aids to most needy seniors.
Persons who are above 60 years of age with arthritis and joint pains and chronically ill with physical disabilities to walk were selected as beneficiaries. Those with explicit difficulty in independently managing defecation and lack of affordability to buy toileting aids were considered as the main criteria for the selection of beneficiaries supported under this project. Based on this criterion, the field staff of MARI meticulously selected the beneficiaries living in their project areas as they have been implementing various projects and are well-versed with the needs of these villages in Yadadri, Bhongiri District of Telangana
On 10th August 2022, Dr. Saraswati Turlapati from SOLON visited Veeravelli and Chandupatla villages and interacted with identified beneficiaries. During this visit, several elders approached and expressed their need and a keen interest in using the toileting chair. It was suggested by Dr Saraswati Turlapati that the selection needs not to be restricted to only those seen with outwardly showing disability, but those elderly who are in the challenging phase of life in terms of ‘living alone’ can also be supported under the project. Regular use of toileting aids provided must be considered most important for the selection of a beneficiary to be supported under the project. During the visit, it was also observed that many elderly persons do not have walkers while some were using their own damaged walkers, which could be risky.
Observation of Toilet Aids by the District Collector and other Officials
It was observed during our visits that many could not reach the toilet chairs to use them, and some were observed to be dragging themselves up to the point where the toilet chair was located. During the interaction with elderly persons, many expressed the need for walkers. Thus, it was also considered as an important complementary aid to ensure good usage of the toilet chair. Taking all this into consideration, it was decided to extend the support of walkers also to the selected beneficiaries. During the field visit, the elderly persons and their caretakers have given positive feedback that both types of Toilet Chairs provided on a trial basis were tried out to see if they fit into the toilets and if the user should be comfortable and safe when they sit in the chair and use it. After all these minute issues were observed and discussed, both chairs and walkers were distributed.
Distribution of toileting chairs and walkers to the selected beneficiaries:
# Name of the village |
Toileting Chairs Beneficiaries |
Walker’s Beneficiaries |
Date of Distribution |
|||||
Men |
Women |
Total |
Men |
Women |
Total |
|||
1 |
Gousenagar |
22 |
27 |
49 |
17 |
11 |
28 |
1-Oct-22 |
2 |
Chandupatla |
19 |
23 |
42 |
10 |
11 |
21 |
1-Oct-22 |
3 |
Veeravelly |
18 |
31 |
49 |
5 |
13 |
18 |
1-Oct-223-Nov-22 |
4 |
Kesaram |
5 |
13 |
18 |
2 |
9 |
11 |
2-Nov-22 |
5 |
Ramachandrapuram |
9 |
6 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2-Nov-22 |
6 |
Cheemalakonduru |
9 |
19 |
28 |
6 |
8 |
14 |
2-Nov-22 |
7 |
Nammathpally |
6 |
14 |
20 |
6 |
11 |
17 |
2-Nov-22 |
8 |
Thokkapur |
14 |
28 |
42 |
6 |
10 |
16 |
3-Nov-22 |
9 |
Sirivenikunta |
13 |
6 |
19 |
7 |
1 |
8 |
4-Nov-22 |
10 |
Nagireddipally |
12 |
9 |
21 |
10 |
4 |
14 |
4-Nov-22 |
11 |
Nandanam |
10 |
8 |
18 |
5 |
8 |
13 |
6-Nov-22 |
12 |
Penchikala Pahad |
21 |
12 |
33 |
3 |
12 |
15 |
6-Nov-22 |
13 |
Basavapur |
12 |
10 |
22 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
7-Nov-22 |
14 |
Muthireddy Gudem |
16 |
13 |
29 |
10 |
7 |
17 |
7-Nov-22 |
15 |
Kunuru |
22 |
16 |
38 |
10 |
3 |
13 |
8-Nov-22 |
16 |
Errambally |
6 |
16 |
22 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
10-Nov-22 |
17 |
Banda somaram |
18 |
21 |
39 |
9 |
11 |
20 |
10-Nov-22 |
18 |
Chinna Laxmapur |
7 |
5 |
12 |
7 |
5 |
12 |
27-Feb-23 |
19 |
Gopalapuram |
6 |
2 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
27-Feb-23 |
Total |
245 |
279 |
524 |
127 |
143 |
270 |