Charvi Upadhye (she/her)
https://charviupadhye.myportfolio.com/work
Preventive Care in Climate Change
Exploring how improving housing can help improve the Health and well-being of people living in old-built Scottish houses and how rising temperatures have affected them.
The primary goal of this project is to develop a scalable system in the form of a strategic partnership between anchor organisations and local ground-level organisations that deal with the tangible problems in the current system of getting maintenance and care for houses. This system would help maintain the structural integrity of homes, support people who deal with the effects of poor Indoor Air Quality and in turn, address the effects of poor IAQ as they directly affect human health.
The final outcome is a service that acts as a reachable support system that the residents can access to get help when it comes to dealing with the effects of dampness, mould, poor indoor climate, issues related to overheating and so on. This would help improve the quality of life of residents by helping to increase their comfort in their own homes, bringing them peace of mind and would act as an investment in their health and healthcare indirectly.
Community and Future
The project’s goal was to co-create a collaborative examination of Govanhill’s future over the next five to 10 years. The future discussed matters to those who are connected to and live in Govanhill in some way.
This inquiry required us to understand Govanhill (via desk research and fieldwork), identify and engage with critical stakeholders, and develop, curate, and organise collaborative engagements with key Govanhill organisations and individuals.
The expected outcomes included a map of care and a vision for the future of Govanhill as an area keeping in mind its people, spaces and places.
Our map of stories is a way of using the rich assets provided by the people and spaces of Govanhill as a strong base for building a vision for the future rather than focusing on the lesser fortunate aspects in a negative light.
Why Stories?
We decided to focus on stories as every conversation we had about aspirations or visions for the future always seemed to link back to past incidents and present experiences and stories. This inspired us to use the very strong history and stories that made it – as a foundation and building blocks to envision a stronger future that included the aspirations and needs of the residents. This helps the change to not only be personal to the people but also form organically without any external intervention or interruption to what they do as a community.
Healthy Hearts
Improving cardiovascular health in areas of inequality through early detection as a means of prevention.
Introduction:
Cardiovascular disease or CVD is a general term for conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. It is the leading global cause of death – three-quarters of these deaths occur in countries of low and middle socioeconomic status. In England alone, people living in areas of ‘deprivation are four times more likely to die prematurely.
Proposed Solution:
Early Detection as a form of Prevention.
Why Primary School Children?
Our visit to the east end exposed gaps in the current health and education systems. Patients have a strong relationship with their doctors but do not see them enough, and school children are being exposed to risk factors their care providers may not be aware of. Currently, the child health surveillance program exists in schools as a means of tracking the general health of at-risk children when requested by a care provider. This program is not a continual assessment and is limited in its scope. It is done in isolation from the NHS system without a direct communication link.
How will our programme improve the lives of those with CVDs?
We hope that our program will improve the lives of those with CVD. Our goal aligns with three of the UN sustainable development goals, #1 No Poverty, #3, Good health and well-being, and #10 reduced inequalities.
Focusing on the east end of the city, we hope to tackle Glasgow’s low life expectancy by recognizing CVD risk factors. Areas of poverty as a result of historically poor living conditions may contribute to higher levels of cardiovascular disease.
Tracking primary school students through general health and well-being data, this program is an early intervention to encourage preventative care measures, hopefully improving the quality of life for all its participants. This applies to everyone of all ages. We can reduce inequalities by improving access to health care. By taking the onus off the individual, we acknowledge the barriers they may face in regard to health and care decisions. This program does not have any financial expectations from its participants.
This project was done in collaboration with Lena Wood, Anushree Chokappa, Kano Hashida, Yi Han, Yucong Zhu
