The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Taking asthma awareness to village

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Taking asthma awareness to village

Kannal Achuthan

Theatre group seeks to educate villagers about respiratory diseases

ENTERTAINMENT FOR A CAUSE: Children of Thirupalaivanam enjoy a street play on asthma awareness on Sunday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: Drumbeats on a quiet Sunday on the streets of Thirupalaivanam, a village near Ponneri, stir the curiosity of residents.

They come out of their homes to find a group of young men inviting them to watch a play at the local school. The play is a special one. Using folk art, the theatre group seeks to inform the villagers about respiratory diseases and why it is important to detect the symptoms early. The play has been organised by the Asthma Foundation of India for St. Andrews Church Village Project in the run-up to the World TB Day on March 24. Children are the first to rush out to watch the play. After a little hesitation come the women. The men stand along the school compound.

But as the tempo picks up, the schoolyard gets crowded. The members of `Gipsy Theatre Group' are delighted that they have a full house. The artists set out, telling their story in an imaginary village, Veppampatti. There is a man with a chronic cough. And his ailment worsens with smoking. Finally, he realises that he is a victim of tuberculosis.

From here, the play takes a more educative tone. Some of the lessons taught are: medicine for tuberculosis should be taken for six-nine months even after the symptoms are gone and alternative medicine cannot cure TB. Government health centres offer free drugs.

As for asthma, the play tells the people to look for a change in breathing patterns, wheezing, fever and fatigue. Wearing protective gear when cleaning dust and preventing pets from playing on the bed are the other helpful tips.

All along, the play is kept interactive. Rajkumar, the theatre group leader, has a quiz at the end for children. "Questionnaires are distributed before and after the play to study how the awareness programme has helped," says Harini Ramesh, who volunteers for AFI projects.

AFI managing trustee Raj B. Singh, consultant respiratory physician at Apollo Hospital, visits Thirupalaivanam every third Saturday.

He stresses the need for a sputum collection facility in every village. The local health centre can make a smear on a slide and send it for testing at the district TB care centre.

"Awareness programmes need to be followed up with access. The Government should provide infrastructure support and medication," says Dr. Singh. As inhalers may be too expensive for those in rural areas, the Government also needs to come up with a programme to supply inhaler medication. He also calls for support from city-dwellers to health care for the rural poor.

AFI can be reached at 26193009 between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and afi1998@hotmail.com

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