Whole-person health and development: two South Indian initiatives

ABSTRACT

In responding to the 2016 reformulation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the development community’s efforts are focused on a sweep of initiatives aiming to promote whole-society, sustainable development. The ambition of the SDGs is inspiring, but also daunting, and does not always sit easily within national models of economic development. This viewpoint profiles two organisations in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, that have decades of experience in whole-person development among scheduled tribes and disability communities. Both organisations serve as timely examples of ongoing holistic, whole-person health and development in the context of new ideals and economic realities.

En réponse à la reformulation de 2016 des objectifs de développement durable des Nations-Unies, les efforts de développement de la communauté sont axés sur une série d'initiatives dont l'objectif est de promouvoir le développement durable pour la société entière. L'ambition des ODD est une inspiration, mais aussi un défi, et n'est pas toujours facilement en accord avec les modèles nationaux de développement économique. Ce point de vue décrit deux organisations basées dans le Tamil Nadu, État de l'Union indienne, qui pendant des décennies ont acquis une expérience du développement de la personne globale parmi les tribus répertoriées et les communautés de personnes handicapées. Ces deux organisations sont présentées comme étant exemplaires pour la santé et le développement holistiques de la personne globale dans un contexte de nouveaux idéaux et de nouvelles réalités économiques.

En respuesta a la reformulación de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenibles realizada en 2016, las acciones de la comunidad de desarrollo han pasado a enfocarse en una serie de iniciativas encaminadas a promover el desarrollo sostenible de toda la sociedad. La propuesta de estos ods es inspiradora y abrumadora al mismo tiempo; además, no siempre embona fácilmente con los modelos de desarrollo económico implementados en los distintos países. El presente punto de vista se centra en dos organizaciones que operan en Tamil Nadu, un estado del sur de India, las cuales cuentan con décadas de experiencia impulsando el desarrollo integral de la persona en las tribus registradas, así como de las personas discapacitadas. La experiencia de ambas organizaciones proporciona ejemplos oportunos del impulso actual dado a la salud y el desarrollo integral de las personas en el contexto de ideales novedosos y realidades económicas nuevas.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender and diversity – Disability
• Social sector – Health
• Civil society – NGOs
• Aid

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the leaders and staff at THI and REHAB for allowing us to visit their projects, sharing their experiences, and reviewing drafts of this article for accuracy. Particular thanks to Dr Regi and Dr Lalitha, Dr Guru, and Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Katelyn N.G. Long is a DrPH candidate at Boston University School of Public Health. She is currently studying the role of voluntary and faith-inspired organisations in health systems. Her other public health work has been in the areas of chronic disease prevention, adolescent health, mental health, and positive deviance in vulnerable communities.

Gillian Paterson is a Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, with a special interest in the interface between faith and health. Recent publications and consultancies have focused particularly on physical disability, HIV and AIDS, and Catholic approaches to population and development. She has worked in a voluntary capacity with CMC Vellore for over 25 years.

Sara Bhattacharji is a retired Professor of community medicine from CMC Vellore. Her interests and work have been in primary health care, training and supervision of village health workers, women’s development, child malnutrition, and general practice. She has been involved with developing a community based rehab programme in the slums of Vellore, training community volunteers and people with disability to improve their quality of life. She is on the board of many community health organisations, including THI.

Notes

1. For a complete list of SDGs, see www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment.

2. A Scheduled Tribe is an officially designated group of indigenous people in India. “Although Scheduled Castes . . .  and Scheduled Tribes are sometimes said in the same breath, they are distinct social categories” (Hall and Patrinos 2012, 2).

3. The Indian 2011 Census estimates that 2.21% of the population is living with a certifiable disability. WHO estimates that around 5% to 8%, given widespread under-reporting. In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an “Accessible India” campaign, to make universal accessibility for persons with disabilities (International Labour Office and International Disability Alliance 2015).

4. A Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning “to meet”, “gathering”, or “fair”. In India, the term is used for many types of gatherings, including religious, cultural, sporting, or commercial.