When Wellness Begins with Waste

from the Ground Up In India, conversations about health often revolve around hospitals, medicine, and access to care. But what if the most powerful prescription for a healthier nation lies not in a clinic, but in the cleanliness of a village lane, a school compound, or a neighborhood drain?

At the Let’s Do It India Foundation (LDII), wellness isn’t seen in isolation from the environment. The Foundation firmly believes that health and hygiene begin with how we manage our waste, our water, and our surroundings. With this integrated vision, LDII has launched multiple grassroots initiatives across the country that combine public health awareness with environmental sanitation.

In tribal areas of Odisha, flood-prone districts of Assam, and peri-urban settlements in Uttar Pradesh, LDII volunteers have conducted workshops that go beyond the typical awareness campaigns. These sessions are community-driven, led by local health workers, teachers, and sanitation volunteers. They focus on real issues: mosquito-borne diseases, contaminated water, menstrual hygiene, and open dumping of solid waste—factors that directly affect daily life and long-term health.

In many of these places, health camps organized by LDII offer free checkups and counseling, while simultaneously involving the community in street cleanups, waste segregation training, and compost pit construction. This dual-action model ensures that people receive immediate care and also learn how to reduce the root causes of illness in their environment.

One such story comes from a village on the outskirts of Nagpur, where repeated outbreaks of dengue were being traced back to unmanaged stagnant water and scattered garbage piles. LDII teams worked alongside the panchayat and schoolteachers to clean drains, introduce mosquito control practices, and set up a village-level waste monitoring committee. Within months, the outbreak was controlled, and the model was adopted by nearby villages.

This approach isn’t limited to rural regions. In slum clusters of Delhi, LDII runs urban health and hygiene clubs where youth leaders are trained to raise awareness about the impact of poor sanitation on respiratory diseases, child nutrition, and women’s reproductive health. These clubs conduct street plays, host peer-learning sessions, and support ward-level health surveillance programs in collaboration with local municipal bodies.