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| Overview Download: Brochure (Word) |
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The Haath Mein Sehat (HMS) project began in 2004 in the community of Behrampada, a slum in the Bandra East district in Mumbai, India, as a collaborative effort between students from the University of California at Berkeley and the community’s Mahila Mandals (women’s groups). The community’s estimated 175,000 residents, living on less than 2 square kilometers of land, obtain their water mostly from public taps spaced along lanes. These water pipes run through sewers and drainage canals, leading to contamination from feces and other sources that infiltrate due to low water pressure and leaks. Further contamination is caused by unsafe storage and handling of water in the home. The Behram Mahila Mandals identified poor water quality as one of the biggest drivers of enteric disease. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach, Berkeley students have worked for the dual objectives of hygiene education and development and promotion of economically viable point-of-use treatment methods. The HMS team is now comprised of student volunteers from UC Berkeley as well as colleges across Mumbai, including Somaiya, SIES, and others. The project has evolved into a comprehensive intervention that includes low-cost water treatment technologies and complimentary hygiene education programs. Now in its third year of operation, HMS is expanding its outreach in collaboration with the NGO SAHAS to another slum, Panchsheel Nagar, located in Sion, Mumbai, and exploring how the program can be adapted to Hubli, a city in the state of Karnataka, with support from the Deshpande Foundation. Workshops and public events such as street plays and market stalls hosted by HMS volunteers provide education and enable the community to make well-informed decisions about unsafe water and prevention of disease. Before beginning work in a community, students conduct needs assessments to determine residents’ general understanding of diarrheal illness, impressions about their water, and treatment methods in use. In addition, HMS teams are researching social marketing, distribution, and financing methods, and identifying point of use treatment systems that are appropriate for the While each of these communities varies significantly in their demographic, infrastructure, and environmental conditions, HMS is using the processes of creating and implementing its programs to develop a model for scaling interventions in urban slums in India. Education Program The education program is the backbone of the HMS project, creating an awareness of causes of illnesses, desire for prevention of disease, and generating demand for treatment and improved environmental conditions. Current focus is on recruiting more local volunteers and building leadership to achieve long-term sustainability
Technology Development • Student-developed treatment technology Water Quality Monitoring • Quantitative testing for fecal coliforms and E. coli Marketing and Distribution Research • Comprehensive background research on POU pilots, commercialization efforts, and slum demographics Epidemiological Studies During the summer of 2006, a UC Davis student collected baseline data on diarrheal illness incidence in children under the age of five years old in Behrampada. This summer a Berkeley public health student will conduct a comprehensive epidemiological study of Panchsheel Nagar.
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environmental conditions and economic levels of Behram and Panchsheel Nagar residents. Students have also developed a unit for water treatment that consists of a water filter to remove large pathogens, chlorine to kill bacteria and viruses, and a safe storage container to prevent recontamination. Additional teams of volunteers conduct water quality testing and epidemiological surveys of households. In January 2007, the project was filmed by the Discovery Channel for inclusion in a series on technology in India. 
