One of the Mumbai based Non-governmental organisations (NGO)named Clean Up foundation is continuing its drive towards improving the health, hygiene and well-being of rag-pickers and solid waste workers of Mumbai, conducted a free vaccination camp in association with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) at Dharavi. Over 2000 solid waste workers and rag-pickers had been vaccinated at this camp.
With Covid cases on the rise again and the surge in Omicron numbers, vaccination has become extremely crucial. This camp assumed tremendous importance as awareness and availability of vaccination is low in this section of the society and vulnerability is high.
Commenting on the initiative, Sanjana Runwal, Founder of Clean-Up Foundation said, "It is our endeavour to provide the garbage workers and rag pickers with the kind of support that is not easily available to them. That’s why we are conducting this free vaccination campaign. With the pandemic backdrop, vaccination was something highly needed for them. Based on our extensive primary research on the rag pickers, we found that even after being in the second year of the pandemic, there is a lot of misinformation, doubt and concern about vaccines and their impact on one’s health. This event was planned with the clear objective of providing valuable insights as well as vaccination to safeguard the health of solid waste workers and garbage cleaners."
Clean Up Foundation’s activities include providing clean drinking water facilities, safety gear, healthy meals, education finance for children of garbage workers, providing medical insurance, free Covid-19 vaccination and other similar activities. Recently the NGO was felicitated with a Certificate of appreciation by the Minister of Housing and Governor of Maharashtra, for exemplary social work.
