The “Dot” That Cures Iodine Deficiency of The Rural Indian Women
Dailycsr.com – 06 July 2015 – There are traditional healthcare ideas which can be modified to give a technical turn to them and creating “original health ideas”, which can prove very economical especially for the poor in the developing countries. Theguardian.com reports that in the developing countries the healthcare products:
“…need to be simple, scalable and culturally appropriate to work”.
The health of people, mainly that of the poor population, often creates a heavy burden on the development of the respective country, especially the poor ones. However, through various simple, culture oriented scalable entrepreneurial solution, which can be scaled to fit the requirement frame, the problem can be overcome.
The traditional dot becomes a life saving tool in rural India
Is has been found that the deficiency of iodine can cause various health hazards and complications, whereby it also becomes the “most prevalent” reason that causes “brain damage”. India faces an acute health problems originating from “iodine deficiency” due to the “low levels of iodine” present in the soil.
Although, Iodine-fortified salts can take care of the risks, the high price of the product stops many Indians from consuming iodized salt, whereby the estimated number of Indians not consuming iodized salt, rises up to “350 million”.
The company of Grey Group, specializing in advertisements has initiated the project of “Life Saving Dot”, which intends on improving the women health of the rural Indians. This attempt is being materialized through “daily dose” of iodine incorporation into the traditional Bindis. The wearing of bindis form part of a cultural practice of Indian Women, whereby they place a dot of kumkum, namely bindis, which are “self-adhesive” in between their eyebrows, have been impregnated with a solution of iodine.
For age immemorial, in Hindu culture, the bindi has been symbolizing a chakra, or the point of energy, among other six, situated in the body. Therefore, the practice of wearing bindi has been quite prevalent across the Indian peninsula. The efforts of Grey Group has converted the same into a healthcare tool, whereby the “treated bindis” are a transdermal agent which supply a daily requires dose of “150 to 220 micrograms of iodine” to the women wearing them.
This particular attempt is a successful testimony wherein modern ideas have been incorporated successfully into an old traditional practice. In fact, the chief “creative officer” of the “Grey Group Singapore”, Mr. Ali Shabaz commented that:
“It’s hard to get [rural women] to make massive behavioural changes… (but in this instance) all they have to do is wear the same bindi that they wear every day”.
In order to receive a feedback of the project, the company of Grey Group has been working in collaboration with “Talwar Bindi”, the latter is amongst the largest producers of bindi in India, to which is to distribute “free” bindi samples in areas so as to commence on pilot experiments. The philanthropic section of the Grey Group, has “developed” the said idea and currently is discussing the results of the said project “with a number of Indian companies” who have shown interest in funding the same, so that large scale, production and supply chain can be started as soon as possible.
References:
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jul/03/iodine-bindi-iron-fish-healthcare-poorer-countries-india-cambodia-kenya
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