What we do

Women's development

Women's status in Theni District is extremely low. Poor, dalit women suffer discrimination on multiple fronts. As children they do not receive the same nourishment or medical treatment afforded to their brothers. Their education rarely goes beyond primary school. Their marriages are arranged and they have no choice about where they live or how many children they have. They do more work than their husbands but receive half the pay. Even their participation in local politics is dominated by men. As dalits, they are made to sit on the floor.

VST works with women to lift this oppression.
The lynchpin of all this work is the 'self-help group'.

buttonClick here to see in pictures how a self-help group comes about and how it helps women.

Tuberculosis control

Tuberculosis is the biggest killer of young adults and children in the world today (World Health Organisation). India, which already has more sufferers than any other country, has been identified as one of the world's hotspots for multi-drug resistant TB. According to WHO 'once a multi-drug resistant TB is unleashed we may never be able to stop it. We will face a deadly infectious disease that spreads through the air, yet is virtually as incurable as Aids'.

button Click here to find out why do our partners need to do this work when there are private and government doctors in Theni District.

Community health

Unlike our other activities, preventative health is not a high priority for the people we work with. They have more immediate concerns such as feeding their children or repairing the roof before the monsoon starts. However, our partners continue with activities such as testing pregnant women for anaemia to prevent miscarriage. Using a few simple and cheap methods early on can avert a whole host of health problems.


buttonClick here to see who does this work.

Aids awareness and control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

India is second only to South Africa in terms of HIV cases. Tamil Nadu has one of the highest levels of HIV infection in India and more Aids cases than any other state. Our partners are working hard to avoid a pandemic of African proportions.

button Click here to find out what strategies we use.