This project, by the NGO Jeevan Rekha Parishad (JRP), protects tribal women in Odisha State, India against malaria by producing mosquito repellent (Neemola) from Neem seeds. In two years, women from fifteen villages have collected and processed over 8 tons of seeds. JRP finds that women who apply the oil regularly are also using mosquito nets (photo) and taking better care of their hygiene. As a result, malaria rates are falling and womens' health is improving. Help us to keep up the momentum!
Tribal communities in Odisha State, India, are acutely vulnerable to malaria because they live in wooded areas and are isolated from medical services. This makes it hard to prevent and treat the disease, leaving pregnant women, lactating mothers and young children at serious risk. But tribal women also face other threats. They suffer from poor menstrual hygiene and rarely earn an income. This calls for a new and creative strategy that will empower women while also improving their health.
This project helps tribal women to produce Neemola oil, a natural anti-malarial, from Neem seeds. 150 women have filled 8,000 bottles of oil. Half of the oil has sold for around $3,000, boosting their savings. The rest has been given to vulnerable women along with mosquito nets. The project has also made sanitary napkins and even planted Neem trees against climate change. The results are encouraging: this year alone, malaria rates have fallen and women are taking much better care of themselves.
It is now clear that Neemola is about more than malaria, and that the oil can empower tribal women to improve their quality of life. This project enables women to work together, make money, manage joint savings, improve their menstrual health, clean up their environment (by removing debris where mosquitoes breed), compost their waste, improve the education of their children, grow their forests and even enrich their traditional culture. Please help JRP to improve and expand this new strategy!
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