14% of India's and 70% of Tamilnadu's Salt production is from Thoothukudi. It has lot of underground saline water, extracting salt from 1500 salt pans. There are more than 7000 women working. These women work from 7a.m to 4p.m under the hot sun. As a result they suffer from various health Hazards (Defects in eyes, skin & wounds in feet). We will enhance the health conditions of selected workers through medical camps & Trainings, Eye camps, Referral for eye surgery, Provision of protective gears.
There are 1500 saltpans in Thoothukudi coastal area. The district's rainfall is very low and has hot sun throughout the year.As a result the women suffer from various problems as they are continuously exposed to sunlight and salt. The problems they face are serious gynecological problems,malnutrition,spinal problems, arthritis and hair loss, anemia,Chronic Kidney disease, peptic ulcer, Skin irrationals and ulcer, various wounds and rashes in hands and feet,eye and reproductive tract infections
Women saltpan workers are vulnerable to the above mentioned health hazards. Therefore we aim to bring in the health seeking behaviour. They don't have a government hospital and primary health centers nearby. Therefore we have decided to conduct medical camps, and Special (Eye) camps on their working site. Also we will select most vulnerable among the vulnerable target group to provide the protective gears (Sun glass, Gloves and shoes used in saltpans). We will conduct health awareness trainings.
Workload is heavy for the saltpan women. As there are no hospitals nearby they dont have the attitude to visit. This project aims to bring in continuous 'health seeking behaviour and make them understand the hazradness in the job. Our interventions ( Medical camps & trainings) will bring an attitude to the women of giving prior importance to their health. As we are providing safety gears to selected vulnerable women (Glasses, Gloves & shoes) the probability of the hazard level will be reduce.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
