As the five million people of the Sundarbans brace themselves for the monsoon and flooding, 80 women from three blocks of the islands have come up with interesting discoveries based on their research on health care and the impact of climate change in the region. They used a technique called Photovoice for the study.
Photovoice, a visual action research technique, is being used for the first time in India, Shibaji Bose, the lead researcher of the project conducted by the Institute of Health Management Research University, told The Hindu .
Mr. Bose said the methodology had a gender perspective with women of the islands collecting data in the form of photographs.
The thousands of photographs present in bold visuals the kind of existence the people of the islands lead, how they cope with the hazards brought about by climate change and the lack of public health facilities.
The photos range from livelihood issues — from women collecting crabs to eke out a living to health and hygiene-related problems faced by children — and social problems. The images deal with the day-to-day problems faced by the people, such as lack of proper roads and river infrastructure, submerged paths and broken embankments. One such picture taken by Supriya Halder of Nagenabad village in Kultali block shows a teenage mother cuddling her underweight baby. She was married at the age of 16, which led to the child being born underweight.
Kaushlaya Halder from Dakshin Raipur village of the Sundarbans had taken a picture of a seriously ill person being treated at her home. In the narrative accompanying the image, Ms. Haldar, a homemaker, said there were no doctors in the vicinity and people took recourse to home remedies or visited traditional healers.
