“Diseases can rarely be eliminated through early diagnosis or good treatment, but prevention can eliminate disease.”
-Denis Parsons Burkitt-
Diseases are generally something that anyone on this earth can suffer from. Currently, nearly 1.8 billion people worldwide are afflicted with diseases. On the other hand, with the ever-increasing medical costs, suffering from diseases puts a lot of pressure on people. For reasons like these, it is essential to take the necessary steps to prevent the disease. For this, the Rotaract Movement has taken steps to educate people on the diseases and provide essential items. In particular, it must be said that the mission to society due to these kinds of projects is indescribable. The 32nd Rotaract District Assembly brought to light three outstanding projects in this category of “Disease prevention and Treatment”
“කලින් රෝග විනිශ්චය හෝ හොඳ ප්‍රතිකාර මගින් රෝග තුරන් කළ හැක්කේ කලාතුරකිනි, නමුත් වැළැක්වීම මගින් රෝග තුරන් කළ හැකිය.” ~ ඩෙනිස් පාර්සන්ස් බුර්කිට්
රෝග සාමාන්‍යයෙන් මෙලොව සිටින ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට පීඩා විඳිය හැකි දෙයකි. වර්තමානයේ ලොව පුරා බිලියන 1.8 කට ආසන්න ජනතාවක් රෝගවලින් පීඩා විඳිති. අනෙක් අතට, දිනෙන් දින ඉහළ යන වෛද්‍ය වියදම් සමඟ, රෝගවලින් පීඩා විඳීම මිනිසුන් මත විශාල පීඩනයක් ඇති කරයි. මෙවැනි හේතූන් නිසා රෝගය වැළැක්වීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගැනීම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ. මේ සඳහා රොටරැක්ට් ව්‍යාපාරය රෝග පිළිබඳව ජනතාව දැනුවත් කිරීමටත් අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය ලබාදීමටත් පියවර ගෙන ඇත. විශේෂයෙන්ම කිව යුත්තේ මෙවැනි ව්‍යාපෘති නිසා සමාජයට සිදුවන මෙහෙවර කියා නිම කළ නොහැකි බවයි. 32 වැනි රොටරැක්ට් දිස්ත්‍රික් සභාව “රෝග නිවාරණය සහ ප්‍රතිකාර” යන කාණ්ඩයේ කැපී පෙනෙන ව්‍යාපෘති තුනක් ආලෝකයට ගෙන ආවේය.
நோய்கள் பொதுவாக இந்த பூமியில் உள்ள அனைவரையும் பாதிக்கத்தக்க ஒன்று. தற்போது, உலகளவில் கிட்டத்தட்ட 1.8 பில்லியன் மக்கள் நோய்களால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர். மறுபுறம், நாளுக்கு நாள் அதிகரித்து வரும் மருத்துவச் செலவுகளால், நோய்களால் பாதிக்கப்படுவது மக்கள் மீது மிகுந்த அழுத்தத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது. இதுபோன்ற காரணங்களுக்காக, நோயைத் தடுக்க தேவையான நடவடிக்கைகளை எடுக்க வேண்டியது அவசியம். இதற்காக மக்களுக்கு நோய்கள் குறித்து விழிப்புணர்வு ஏற்படுத்தவும், அத்தியாவசிய பொருட்களை வழங்கவும் ரோட்ராக்ட் இயக்கம் நடவடிக்கை எடுத்துள்ளது. குறிப்பாக, இவ்வாறான திட்டங்களால் சமூகத்திற்கான பணி,விபரிக்க முடியாதது என்றே சொல்ல வேண்டும். 32 வது ரோட்ராக்ட் மாவட்டக்கூட்டம் “நோய் தடுப்பு மற்றும் சிகிச்சை” என்ற இந்த வகையில்,மூன்று சிறந்த திட்டங்களை வெளிச்சத்திற்கு கொண்டு வந்தது.
Gold – We can (Rotaract Club of Informatics Institute of Technology)
Project ‘we can’ was an initiative of Rotaract Club of Informatics Institute of Technology. The project’s main goals were to provide reusable sanitary napkins to women and girls in rural areas, as well as to build women-friendly washrooms in underprivileged schools. Not only that, but the club was also able to educate students, both boys and girls, about the importance of menstrual hygiene and the diseases associated with it.
Over the past years they have been able to-
- Build collaborations with influencers to remove the stigma associated with period talk.
- Conduct online sessions to create awareness about menstrual diseases.
- Provide 125 packs of reusable sanitary napkins to students at five underserved schools.
- Build women friendly washrooms in 5 underprivileged schools.
This project, which has done so much good for society, is deserving of the gold award.
Silver – Kindred Kidneys (Rotaract Club of Alumni of University of Moratuwa)
Kindred Kidneys was an effort of Rotaract Club of Alumni of University of Moratuwa in the year 2018 with the Rotaract Club of Kairós Xalapa. The primary goals of this project were to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease and to assist those who have been diagnosed with CKD. The project was being carried out in partnership with the Samastha Lanka Kidney Patients Association. There were two phases in the project.
Phase 1
Rotaract Alumni Moratuwa together with members of the Samastha Lanka Kidney Patients Association sold the quarterly publication ‘Wakugaduwa’ of SLKPA at Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya on the 17th of January 2022. which is a newspaper with a lot of articles about chronic diseases. Most of the visitors to Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya had been engaged in buying the newspapers. On that day, the team was able to make an unforgettable impact on society by raising awareness of disease prevention.
Phase 2
This phase was focused on facilitating the essential needs of CKD patients. This donation included financial assistance provided to the Sri Lanka Kidney Patients’ Association (SLKPA) in order to obtain pharmaceuticals and conduct medical tests for kidney patients. According to SLKPA data, the annual cost is estimated to be LKR 3 954,048.00. The cost was usually covered by fundraising projects organized by the organization, and it was difficult to raise funds during this COVID time period. The Rotaract club of Alumni Moratuwa was able to donate Rs.233,732 by executing an effective public awareness campaign conducted via official social media pages.
Bronze – You are not alone (Rotaract Club of Faculty of Medicine, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka)
This project was a joint project with the Rotaract Club of Rathnapura and the Rotaract Club of Wayaba University of Sri Lanka. Increasing the importance of medical health in the public was the objective of this project. The project was done in four phases.
1st Phase – an awareness campaign about the importance of mental health via social media.
2nd Phase – an Q & A session with four leading celebrities in Sri Lanka. who were Dr. Pradeep Rangana, Mr. Bathiya Kodithuwakku, Gaia Kodithuwakku , Mrs. Rasini Bandara
3rd Phase – a professional discussion with two leading consulting psychiatrists in Sri Lanka
4th Phase – a donation for Unawatuna Mental Hospital. The team was able to donate a high-quality digital blood pressure meter, glucometer strips, sanitary napkins, female and male clothes and paint.
These projects are well deserved for the awards they won, and finally, we, RACUOCFMF, appreciate the great work done for society by executing such valuable projects.
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