184,100  children and adolescents have type 1 diabetes in India. The number of newly diagnosed children and adolescents each year is 21,300. This number is rising rapidly every year and diabetes is also affecting children from the lower socio-economic strata and rural children. Providing good care to the children is expensive and many children do not reach their full growth or mental capacity due to their poor health.

Type 1 diabetes typically affects children and needs to be treated with insulin. Children experience sudden weight loss, thirst, excessive urination, difficulty breathing and sometimes even fall into a coma. Children need constant attention, monitoring, a healthy diet and physical activity.

Type 1 diabetes has no proven cure at this time. While research is going on to find the cure, children can be treated with insulin, self-monitoring of blood glucose, screening for complications and appropriate interventions at the right time.

Type 1 diabetes is a very emotionally draining problem. Parents, school teachers, friends and the children themselves have to be constantly alert to recognize when the blood sugar is too low or too high, how to manage sick days and how to help the child eat healthily.

Girls find it particularly challenging during puberty and during menstrual cycles and many have eating disorders. They also find it difficult to find a partner and have difficulty with their pregnancy which has to be managed very carefully.

IT COSTS JUST INR 15000 TO  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO A CHILD FOR A YEAR. INR 30000 WILL HELP THE  CHILD FOR TWO YEARS.

EXPENSE SHEET

CASE STUDY

ABOUT ME

My name is Arya Venkatesh. I am 16 years old and a Grade 11 student at the APL Global School, Chennai.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in different ways. Perhaps the hardest hit is the daily wage earners, migrant labor, and the financially poor. They are all financially stressed and have huge issues in this situation. This campaign is for children from such homes who suffer from Type 1 Diabetes.

I was surprised to learn that these children who suffer from TYPE-1 diabetes are literally fighting for survival just because they do not have the financial resources to get their daily dose of two insulin injections & other medicines/tests done. The cost of giving them Insulin, BP Meds, Lips, a Glucometer, doing medical tests for Kidney function, Blood, Glucose, etc works out to just INR 15000 for the entire year. That works out to a cost of just about INR 41 per day.

Let me explain this in more detail.

Children with Type 1 diabetes don't produce Insulin (an important hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate the blood sugar levels). There is no cure for this. The child needs insulin to survive, so the missing insulin needs to be replaced with injections. These children need to be given two injections every day, need a battery of tests through the year, need a device called a glucometer and testing strips to check their insulin levels, etc. All this costs just INR 15000/year. This is done by the team at VHS (Voluntary Health Services). This is a massively subsidized cost. They work with and impact about 150-200 children in and around Chennai. If we raise more we can help fund a child's treatment for a longer duration.

We are fortunate that we come from economically well off homes and during this CRISIS it is important that we step up to help these children through these difficult times. I request all of you to support my campaign so that we can also ease their hardship in our own small way.

Lets together save the lives of these kids by funding their treatment costs for an entire year.

PATIENTS AT VHS

LOCATION

ABOUT VOLUNTARY HEALTH SERVICE

VHS has a long history of providing excellent care for children with type 1 diabetes completely free of cost. The centre was established in by Dr CV Krishnaswami and over the past 3 decades has taken care of thousands of children from all across Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states. Children and their families have been educated, provided free insulin, free consultations, free eye check-up, screening for complications and managed during emergencies. This dedicated centre has done pioneering work and has functioned as a referral centre. VHS also has world-class speciality care for Thalassemia, mental health issues, HIV/ AIDS, TB, Neurosciences which also support services for the children with Type 1 diabetes. 

Providing this kind of care requires the support of philanthropists and the sustained good health, productivity and progress have been the hallmark of the care provided by the specialists, paramedical staff [nutritionists, diabetes educators, psychologists, pump technicians etc].

TAX BENEFITS

Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as VOLUNTARY HEALTH SERVICE is a registered NGO & you can avail of benefits under section 80G of IT act. Foreign funding is accepted too.

FEEDBACK

To ensure that there is complete transparency I shall get a report from NGO (this takes between 2 to 4 months usually after the funds are raised & transferred to them) telling me who benefitted from the funding. The details will then be posted on the UPDATES section of my campaign. As soon as I post an update, the platform will send an SMS and EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e. to you. Click on the link on the email and you can read about who benefitted. That's transparent right.

The below image is an example of the FEEDBACK FORMAT that we will be shared with all my funders.