The Need

Poverty is a major risk factor to the health of tribal children and their families. In particular, impoverished environments present extreme health risk to children through:

• Inadequate and insecure housing
• Polluting activities
• Harmful lifestyle and behaviours
• Poor access to health services
• Vulnerability to exploitation

Many people residing in Northern Thailand have been displaced from mountain or other regional areas by war; desperate social issues or government policy banning the slash and burn style of farming traditionally employed by them.

These displaced people... become vulnerable to the drug and sex trades.

These displaced people are impoverished and cannot afford to purchase land or pay market rent and accordingly enter a transient lifestyle with no stability for children. They become vulnerable to the drug and sex trades and suffer from almost non-existent local health and welfare services. Family indebtedness places children and their parents at significant risk of coercion by unscrupulous predators and severely restricts the options parents can offer their children.

Substandard infrastructure including haphazard and intermittent water flow; poor water quality, and uncontrolled discharge of grey water and sewerage have lead to substantial health risks and inappropriate living conditions. Non-existent management of storm water runoff compounds these issues.

Capacity is committed to the sustainable improvement in the capacity of communities to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes.