AAN :::Asia Arsenic Network Bangladesh

Panjia Project

Outnine

The “Panjia Project” is a short name for a project titled “Community Development for Safe Water and Healthy Living in Rural Areas” in Keshabpur Upazila of Jessore District. The project started in Panjia Union of Keshabpur Upazila in April 2005, and since the formal name of the project was too long we soon started calling it “Panjia Project”. The project aims to supply safe drinking water, mostly by way of installing deep tube wells, in arsenic-affected villages in Keshabpur Upazila.
The project is conducted phase-wise as below:
	1) Phase I (April – December 2005), covering 3 Wards of Panjia Union.
	2) Phase II (April – December 2006), covering 6 Wards of Panjia Union and the whole Bidyanandakati Union.
	3) Phase III (September 2006 – April 2007), covering Sagardari Union.

1.Background

Keshabpur is located in the southwestern part of Bangladesh and is one of the highly arsenic- contaminated Upazilas. According to the Data Books issued by BAMWSP, the average ratio of arsenic- contaminated tube wells in Keshabpur Upazila was 55.5% in comparison to 29.1% at the national level. There are 48 villages (33.6%) under the “emergency-response villages” category out of the total 143 villages.

2. Demographic Data of Keshabpur Upazila

In Keshabpur there are nine Unions with a total population of about 268,000 as summarized below:

	Union	Number of Villages	Number of Households	Population			Total Tube Wells
Male	Female	Total
1	Bidyanandakati	24	8,041	17,561	16,115	33,676	2,464
2	Gaurighona	9	4,680	10,258	9,323	19,581	1,004
3	Keshabpur	17	10,061	23,487	20,998	44,485	3,533
4	Majidpur	14	6,825	14,467	13,099	27,566	2,201
5	Mangalkot	13	5,601	11,916	10,982	22,898	1,798
6	Panjia	17	6,647	15,409	13049	28,458	1,472
7	Sagardari	17	7,518	16,034	15,246	31,280	2,283
8	Sufalakati	17	4,535	11,740	9,730	21,470	1,035
9	Trimohini	15	7,864	21,353	16,922	38,275	2,940
	Total	143	61,772	142,225	125,464	267,689	18,730

(Source: NAMIC/BAMWSP)

3. Arsenic Contamination in Keshabpur at-a-Glance

(Source: NAMIC/BAMWSP)

4. Objectives and Related Activities

(a) To know the current status of contamination, tubewell-wise and patient-wise, in the project area.

? Testing of tube well water for arsenic and examining people for arsenical skin lesions.

Testing TW water for arsenic	Feeling the sole for keratosis

(b) To assess the current status of knowledge of the target people regarding arsenic and its mitigation, health hazards of arsenic poisoning, safe water options, community participation in arsenic mitigation, domestic drinking water management, status of women in the community and hygiene practices.

? Baseline survey.

? Formal meetings with Arsenic Mitigation Committees at the Upazila, Union and Ward levels to discuss the roles of each party to implement activities, and informal meetings to exchange views on the progress.

(d) To introduce alternative safe drinking water devices to the villagers by demonstration, field visits, and construction.

? Deep tube wells are being installed in the main in the project area, Keshabpur Upazila, where thick clay layers exist underground and make it possible to install DTWs with cement sealing to avoid vertical arsenic contamination from shallow aquifers to deep aquifers.

(e) To develop community for sustainable management of safe water devices by providing support to form Users Committees and trainings on the management of Users Committees and operation and maintenance of installed drinking water devices.

? First, a “para” meetings are organized for people to know the situation of arsenic contamination of their tube wells. Then they draw a map of their vicinity using the PRA methods to identify the problems and to discuss how to solve them. In general, people in Keshabpur are well aware of arsenic toxicity since many tube wells were painted “red”, meaning unsafe for drinking, during the national screening period. Normally they form Users Committees, select an alternative water device and the

most suitable place, and collect their shares (10%) of the DTW installation cost, very quickly. AAN provides trainings on operation and maintenance with a bag of tools for maintenance at the time of handover ceremony.

(f) To create awareness among people regarding arsenic, healthy way of domestic water management, nutritious food habit, sanitation, waste disposal, primary health care, cleanliness and personal hygiene and make the status of women powerful in the community.

? Flip chart performances at schools and yards; cultural programmes consisting of parody songs, gombhira (a traditional folk musical), and exhibition of photographs of arsenicosis symptoms; nutrition programme in which it is emphasized to take nutritious food to protect them from arsenicosis and kichuri is prepared with rice, pulse and seasonal vitamin-rich vegetables by women living near the newly installed safe water device.


Gombhira	Kichuri Lunch

5. Arsenicosis Patient Management

People are first examined by trained field workers who make a list of suspected patients who have some skin lesions seemingly caused by arsenic. The suspected patients are then examined by medical experts for identification. AAN keeps database of arsenicosis patients as confirmed by the experts.

The health condition of those patients are monitored regularly by AAN's Patient Support Coordinator and Field Workers in each village and examined by experts periodically. If necessary, AAN supports patients financially for medical treatment when recommended by the experts.