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![]() The Asia Society Guide to
Health NGOs in India
Family planning Annual Exponential Growth
Rates National Family Health Survey Global
Reproductive Health Forum South Asia Demand
for Family Planning Among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Has Family
Planning Failed?
Why
Women Choose Sterilization in Rural South India
Tamil Nadu: Sex and the City |
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Introduction
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UNFPA - Asia and
the Pacific
This is the homepage of the United Nations Population Fund, Asia. As the population control wing of the United
Nations, UNFPA is the most famous and respected international organization advocating and providing modern methods
of birth control on the subcontinent.
Family Planning Association of
India
The Family Planning Association of India is a national organization that is over 50 years old, focusing on educating
youth about sexuality and distributing birth control.
Occupational and Environmental Health
The issues of environmental and occupational health are inextricably linked, with rapid industrialization contributing
to widespread environmental degeneration and public health problems. While the relationship between pollution and
public health violations have been given more attention since the tragic Bhopal disaster of 1984, much still remains
to be done. Although environmental regulations exist in Indian law books, they are seldom enforced. Given lax enforcement
of labor laws and environmental disregard on the part of factory owners, many Indian workers are subject to health
risks as a direct consequence of their jobs. Particularly alarming is the link between byssinosis, a fatal lung
disease, and textile workers, half of which are affected by the disease. In addition, child laborers are particularly
susceptible to the health effects of substandard working conditions, including polluted lungs, exposure to toxic
fuels, and muscular disorders in the hands from textile factories.
NGOs agree that while eradication of poverty is at the center of environmental protection, the poor are not the
main cause of environmental crises. Rather, it is the rich who use poor laborers for the purpose of deforestation.
In addition, multinational corporations are moving into countries where the enforcement of environmental laws is
weaker than that in Western industrialized countries, thereby taking advantage of such leniency.
Articles and Information
Byssinosis
in a Bombay textile mill
An article on byssinosis (the disabling occupational disease caused by cotton dust) from LTM Medical College in
Bombay.
Bhopal
Disaster
This informed study of the tragic aftermath of the Bhopal Disaster points out that there are slow but steady environmental
disasters happening all over India.
Union Carbide
Gas Release in Bhopal, India
This site presents clear facts and data on the Bhopal tragedy, including recommendations and solutions.
Centre for Science and Environment
The Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi provides great background information on the connections between
the environment, public health, education and industry.
Organizations
Mill Kamdar Swasthya Suraksha Mandal ("Mill Workers Health Protection Organization")
The Mill Kamdar Swasthya Suraksha Mandal provides healthcare information and assistance to textile workers in Ahmedabad,
emphasizing early diagnosis of byssinosis, a fatal lung disease that affects fifty percent of textile workers.
It has spearheaded one of India's first citizen-led occupational health campaigns, resulting in the creation of
both a governmental Byssinosis Control Program and a network of doctors and factory inspectors who educate workers
about the disease. By suggesting cost-effective methods of improving the working conditions of textile employees,
the organization effects real change in the daily health and quality of life of factory workers. A growing organization,
the Mandal has over forty volunteers and is branching out to other textile communities in Maharashtra and Uttar
Pradesh. Founder Haushala Prasad Mishra is an Ashoka Fellow.
Occupational
Health and Safety Centre
The Occupational Health and Safety Centre in Bombay aims to assist workers and employees in their efforts to bring
in a safer and healthier work place, focusing on municipal sewerage workers and textile workers.
Organ Trade
While the Indian government made for-profit organ trade illegal in 1997, kidney trade is stronger than ever in
India. Many poor villagers sell their kidneys to get out of debt, to pay for everyday living expenses, or for their
daughters' dowries. Along with India, China, Brazil and Thailand are all infamous for their roles in organ black
market, with China notoriously selling the organs of executed criminals.
Human Rights and Health issues
India
Kidney Trade
This site provides comprehensive background information on the issue.
Extreme
Research
This site features Berkeley Professor Lawrence Cohen who studies the anthropological implications of the kidney
trade in India.
The new cannibalism
This article from the New Internationalist investigates the international organ trade.