South Asian Health Development Initiative

the south asian health and development initiative–or better known as sahdi–was founded in the spring of 2015 by three students at the macaulay honors college at city college: pooja dutta, tanvir islam, and john udara mendis. since then, sahdi has become the macaulay honors college’s longest running active service club. sahdi was launched with the intention of improving the conditions of the south asian diaspora in the united states as well as the conditions of people in south asia and other third-world regions. with these goals in mind, sahdi has completed many projects such as developing: hygiene pamphlets for students in situri junior high school in calcutta, the sudu gini–aka the ez chimney–for residents of third world regions that are exposed to smoke from indoor clay ovens, and partnerships with organizations like the green lion as well as the memorial sloan kettering cancer center’s immigrant health and disparities center. sahdi has hosted speakers of all ranges in the past and i