SOUTHERN HEALTH IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY (SHIS)

A voluntary organization working for women empowerment was established in 1979 by a group of young activists under the motivation of Brother Gaston Dayanand at Bhangar, District South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. It started with 2 members and within 2 decades more than 700 workers and volunteers got involved in implementing the multi-faceted activities of the organization. SHIS had commenced their journey in tea stall where the first clinic was founded and their main focus was about tuberculosis. They had made a remarkable growth and further diversification in socio-economic, health, education & self-sustained community development in the recent years. M. A. Wohab and Sabitry Pal along with Brother Gaston Dayanand and Dominique Lapierre (the key people of the organization) have succored the needy through tuberculosis control program, eye care, sanitation, arsenic free pure drinking water, mother and child care, Herbal Plantation, Micro Credit Facilities, education, providing aids to the deprived ones, women empowerment, rehabilitating criminals, pollution and environment, disaster management and others.

Today SHIS is expanded to 36 blocks of West Bengal, which includes 2463 villages and 10.5 million populations. Their main action areas are Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Coochbehar, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Birbhum and Nadia.

As per the organization, their vision is to:-

• Build a value oriented sustainable society
• Envisage a society free from evils of poverty, illiteracy, social injustice, and class or creed difference.
• Tackling poverty not just economically, but socially too. 
•  Education and social awareness.

• Reaching the unreached ones.
• People's participation.
• Women as central figure in programs.
  
  
  To achieve their visions different activities are performed by them. Some of them are formations of a self help group, whose main focus is on women’s rights awareness and micro credit projects; Mobile Health Care Service; Mobile Boat Dispensary; Reproductive and child health Programs; Girls Academy for unprivileged ; Institutional delivery centers and Community health worker training centers.
  
  
  These noble acts of the organization were not over looked by the government. They were  awarded with "24 Ghanta Anonya Sanmaan 1418" on 27th August 2012, Indira Gandhi Seva Ratna Award  2012, Begum Rokea Award 2011,Asia Pacific Excellence on 21 May 2011 in service to mankind, "Unsung Heroes of Compassion, 2009" in San Francisco, in April 2009 and a lot more.
  
  
  With such a magnanimous effort of SHIS a refurbished countryside of West Bengal would be an exquisite acclimation.