Health and hygiene go hand in hand. When hygiene is there the community will have good heath and bad hygiene conditions are the cause for many of the dreadful disease like malaria, tuberculosis’s etc.

The SHG’S take keen interest in spreading the message of cleanliness and hygiene among the community members. Their product portfolio also includes hygiene related products like sanitary napkins cleaning agents, Phenoil etc., The following are the areas in which the SHGs are working to improve the hygiene and living conditions of the village community.

Drinking Water

Unsafe drinking water is the main source of water borne diseases. In the rural areas getting safe drinking water is always problematic. The main source of their drinking water is that collected in the ponds and ditches during the monsoon.

The NGOs and other Governmental organizations are working towards providing safe drinking water to the villages. To ensure that safe drinking water is made available to the majority of the community they help in digging bore wells and drinking water wells. This task of providing safe drinking water is also entrusted with the Self Help Groups. This goes a long way in eradication of diseases in many villages.

Toilet Facilities

The Self Help Groups are also creating awareness about using public toilet facilities. The Government and NGOs are also constructing Public toilets in the villages with the help of Self Help Groups.

Other sanitary conditions:

They are also educating the village community about the necessity of maintaining personal hygiene, keeping the food items closed, keeping the public places clean and proper disposal of solid and liquid waste.

Nature preservation

The SHGs are helping in the preservation of nature by producing the products by using the raw materials which are available locally there by they get livelihood in their own areas. This in turn helps in avoiding people moving out to urban areas in search of the livelihood.

They also produce products which are non polluting to the environment and recyclable like paper bags, articles made from the wastes of plants and trees etc.,

Joint Forest Management

The forest management in India experienced a pivotal change in 1990 when the ministry of Environment and forest, Govt of India issued policy guidelines for the joint forest management (JFM) to combat deforestation and degradation in the country. The JFM is a system of governance that devolves the responsibility of forest protection and management on ecosystem people in partnership with the state forest department for regeneration, efficient and sustainable conservation.