Future Generations University Alumni
DAHAL SANTOSH, CLASS OF 2013
Practicum Summary: Human Trafficking in Nepal
Santosh’s practicum focuses on human trafficking in Nepal, which was started by the Rana regime when they began bringing girls from neighboring districts and Kathmandu valley for sexual exploitation as domestic workers. Gradually, this exploitation has expanded to include internal, cross-border, and international levels of trafficking, with trends shifting from forced prostitution to organ transplantation. To collect information, Santosh used participatory tools such as questionnaires and interviews to identify the community attitudes regarding human trafficking victims of 24 respondents from the Bhaise Village Development Committee in the Makwanpur District. Santosh’s primary objective was to discover the details of trafficking in the region, and to identify the underlying causes of the practice. The study found that human trafficking occurred due to the lack of employment opportunities and resulting low incomes, which make it difficult, specifically for women and children, to live a comfortable life. It was also discovered that the traffickers are primarily relatives of those being exploited, even their immediate family members. Other contributing factors to trafficking include infertile land, lack of education, and poor irrigation, leading to limited income opportunities and a limited food supply. Thousands of women and children are trafficked to India each year, which serves as either a destination for those seeking prostitution, or a transit route for trafficking in the Gulf States and South-East Asia. In order to reduce instances of human trafficking, Santosh recommends educating foreign governments on the situation, and providing income generating activities for vulnerable community members.
KANNO DR. TAGE, CLASS OF 2007
Practicum Summary: Health Behavior AmongTribal Mothers of Arunachal Pradesh, India
Dr. TageKanno’s research practicum examines whether training selected women in the villages of Arunachal Pradesh, India will result in wide dissemination of knowledge and help bring about a positive change in the health-related attitudes and behaviors of the people in the entire village. The region of Arunachal Pradesh faces numerous challenges associated with health, including the location of villages in remote places with little or no access to roads, transportation, or information, the fear of vaccination due to the traditional, nonclinical roles religious leaders have played in healthcare, and the lack of trained staff to work in clinical facilities built by the Indian government and other development agencies. In this practicum, Dr. Kanno focuses on the effect of Future Generations Arunachal Pradesh’s approach to building the capacity of communities to improve health and diseases among tribal mothers by training Village Welfare Workers who are expected to share their knowledge to members of her group about health, and who will in turn further spread the same knowledge to men and women in the village. In an effort to provide Future Generations Arunachal Pradesh with a formal evaluation of its programs, Dr. Kanno examines whether a possible increase in knowledge and awareness has led to desirable changes in the behavior of the trial mothers in Arunachal Pradesh, and whether this change in behavior has led to the better utilization of various health care services provided by the government. Overall, Dr. Kanno determines that the villages whether Future Generations programs were carried out in the last eight years prior to the survey did far better than the control villages in terms of positive health behavior among the mothers. It was found that the FGA program has made the most progress in its promoting of home-made ORS as the first line management of diarrheal diseases and steam inhalation for pneumonia, improving nutritional support of children with diarrhea, and washing hands post-defecation to prevent illness. In addition, boiling water is more common in the intervention area, along with the less frequent use of alcohol. Overall, Future Generations Arunachal Pradesh has proved to be effective in implementing health programs across the region.
