Help Raise: Support for Needy Cancer Patients and Awareness In Kerala

About  Serve India
Serve India - A Non-Profit, Non Governmental Organization dedicated to empowering the socially and economically poor people to save their means of livelihood and to promote sustainability to their living environment. Founded in 1978, the organization has worked among backward communities in the interior unreached pockets of 6 revenue districts of northern Kerala (known as the Malabar area of the State) and are identified and declared as the most under developed districts in Kerala. Women self help groups have been taken as the base for all interventions and livelihood activities enabling them to contribute towards mainstream development process.
In early 90s Serve India had shouldered the responsibility of shifting from charity based interventions to development based interventions on a bottom-up basis. In 1990, Serve India started promoting and facilitating grass root level people’s groups in the form of Mahila Samajams (Women’s organization) for women and Credit unions for men. Later these groups were disintegrated according to a study conducted on its sustainability and success rate and further small groups in the form of neighborhood clusters (Community Based Organizations-CBOs) were promoted and facilitated.  This arrangements provided more people to take part in the decision making process and this system had proved to be a more reasonable and replicable way of decentralization.
During the last 38 years, The Serve India has implemented multifarious projects; most of them are innovative, result-oriented and contains humanitarian agenda.  Our multifaceted social activities provide and highlighted the successful partnership with Government, Quasi-Governmental Institutes, Philanthropists and noble-minded well-wishers.  All our project activities and functions are based on the cherished value of justice, equality, public interests, service participation and collective accountability.  Our main thrust which stand to the top of the agenda are creation of employment for rural as well urban youngsters, setting up awareness centers for women in distress, and such other humanitarian services.

Our efforts are to create awareness of employment with particular focus on labor intensive sectors with utmost priority to women empowerment, poverty alleviation and sustainable employment.  We do believe that rural poverty alleviation can be successfully tackled led only if there are a large number of diversified employment opportunities for the rural unemployed.  This alone will pave the way for improvement in the economic conditions of the people at the bottom most layer and to achieve our goal.  We are trying our level best to unlock the doors of all the agencies.

The Central Administrative Office has various departments and for each department there is a coordinator. The organization had a strong governing body controlled by the Umer Abdusalam T and the total control and guidance rests in the Governing Body. The Governing body appoints the Chief functionary to manage the day-to-day function and administration

Situation of Kerala
Kerala, which stood out in the human development index, unfortunately has the highest cancer incidence rates in the country. The estimated crude cancer incidence now in Kerala is 172.2 per one lakh population. The crude cancer incidence among males in Kerala is projected to be 172 (per one lakh population) while for female it is 165.5 The PBCR (Population Based Cancer Registry)  data shows that  Kerala has 55,857 new cancer cases every year.  Over 1.5 Lakh of people in the state are currently living with cancer. As for mortality, an estimated 21285 are dying of cancer every year in Kerala. There are 913 male and 974 female cancer patients per million in Kerala. A total of 100,000 cancer patients are in prevalence annually in the state. All living cells in the history have a chance of cancer occurrence. Studies have shown that 70 – 90% of cancers are environmental. The most important among the environmental exposures are lifestyle related factors. Dietary practices, reproductive and sexual practices et al. account for upto 30% of cancers. Rightful changes in lifestyle can reduce mortality and morbidity.
The major problems faced in this sector are briefly given below;
•Increasing number of cancer patients
•Poor awareness of marginalized people on cancer
•Continuous use of chemicals and pesticides leading to cancer
•Changing food habits leading to cancer
•Excessive use of tobacco
•Heavy economic crisis due to high cost on treatment
•Social stigma with cancer patients

Specific Objective
Improvement in the quality of life and health of the poor Cancer patients in the district of Calicut, Wayanad ,  Malappuram of Kerala State

General objective
•To promote cancer prevention detection and treatments and Palliative care for the Poorest Cancer Patients in the selected panchayths
•Decrease in morbidity rate among the poor due to the control of contagious new generation diseases
•To promote awareness among marginalized families on cancer through IEC materials
•Selections of 500 volunteers and train them as part of cancer prevention, detection, treatment and rehabilitation among the marginalized cancer patients.
•To network with agencies who are engaged in cancer prevention and treatment

This project will be implemented in new areas/villages in the operational areas of Serve India. As we have been involving in as many as 100 Grama Panchayats in all the three districts for the last few years, it is now decided to enter into new geographical areas also in view of extending our interventions to new communities and areas.

Cancer Awareness programme for the Public-
Prevention and early diagnosis are the best strategy for the long term control of cancer. The limited cancer literacy of the general public impairs effective awareness and prevention behaviors. We are plan to conduct awareness campaigns  design to raise awareness of cancer symptoms, cancer prevention  and to support people to make lifestyle changes that can help reduce their  of cancer.
•Classes for general public – Panchayath level programmes conducted
•Cancer awareness road show
•Cancer talk- Local  TV Channel and radio