This paper presents and explores the efforts of the Government of Rajasthan, in tackling the problem of fluorosis and in ensuring that the Rajasthan Integrated Fluorosis Mitigation Programme (RIFMP) impacts all segments of the target population, including dalits.
Rajasthan has almost half of the total villages, with the highest levels of fluoride in the country. After the success of the UNICEF pilot project using Domestic De-fluoridation Units (DDUs) at household levels, the Government of Rajasthan in 2005 adopted this technology and implemented the Rajasthan Integrated Fluorosis Mitigation Programme (RIFMP), across the state.
The present study explores the aspect of social inclusion in the implementation of RIFMP Phase I and finds that areas where social awareness activities began before the distribution of DDUs, and which were closer and had an active local animator, had comparitively well-maintained DDUs, and achieved a greater level of social inclusion.
It employs several participatory research methods that included focus group discussions, village mapping, transect walks and semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data. Quantitative data was collected from structured interviews and existing statistics from a variety of sources.
Though the project was successful in reaching most of the households considered to be below the poverty line, there were questions regarding the criteria that defined which families lived below or above the poverty line.
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