kolkata terrible space constraint dusty kachcha roads noncemented drains waterlogging in front of huts and a large dumping ground beside the only open space left for children to play rishi arabinda colony in northeastern kolkata may look like any other urban slum to a stranger but it has a unique characteristic a group of children known as healthminders a kids forum is quietly working to fight pollution and health hazards in their area the healthminders project was the brainchild of prayasam a little known kolkatabased nongovernmental organisation which has been working in the area since 1997 the programme financially and technically supported by unicef started in december 1999 and was aimed at creating awareness among the local community about the need to follow hygienic practices using safe drinking water and cleaning their surroundings the children were selected after surveying the area and were trained so as to enable them to address the health issues in their area effectively says amlan ganguly director of the project which is functioning with 16 children in the age group of 1014 we have divided the kids into four groups and each group was assigned to look after one zone in the area they visit each and every home and inform the people about basic dos and donts to be followed to improve community health and hygiene says ganguly the efforts of the children have really succeded when we first started working the colony was very dirty but now we regularly carry out cleaning drives in our area says suraj swarnakar an 11year old healthminder purnima riyasi a 12year old kid agrees that positive developments have taken place we tell them to keep the water covered and use mosquito nets so that germs and bacteria can be prevented in the beginning we had some difficulty because adults were not ready to give importance to our views but after sustained effort they are listening to us now and most of them are following our advices says dipa saha another healthminder the children also check whether the families have birth certificates immunisation cards or health card and campaign for the pulse polio immunisation programme informs ganguly care for every child and listen to children these are among the 10 imperative actions denoted by unicef as necessary for improving the lives of children as part of the international campaign say yes for children launched by it in april 2001 in this background these efforts achieve greater significance because here children themselves are carrying forward the movement to raise intensive community awareness about health care issues like provision of safe water and clean environment which are regarded by unicef as basic rights of every child says carrie auer state representative of unicef