Project Description
WHAT DOES THE FOUNDATION DO?
- In 2017, Samta Foundation started providing this service across 26 centres in Palghar District by organising malnutrition camps in tie-up with the local Primary Health Care Centres
- First part of the activity commences with enrolling pregnant women and continues till the newly born is 6 years old
- The other part covers malnourished children up to the age of 6 years, starting with a thorough medical check-up by a paediatrician, followed with providing the child with the necessary medical care
- Should a malnourished child require special medical care like that of blood transfusion or hospitalisation, the Foundation makes necessary arrangements for the same.
- The parents of a malnourished child are taught the importance of nutrition and are counselled accordingly.
- The Foundation provides pre-determined check-ups while maintaining & monitoring growth charts of enrolled children.
- If mothers do not attend a scheduled check-up, the Foundation’s team visits them in order to understand their reasons and counsel them.
HOW IT STARTED?
The gravity of the malnutrition problem came to light during an interaction with a Foundation team member, Mahesh Raut. He had actively worked on analysing malnutrition in his home area of Melghat and had prepared a detailed report on the poor status of child health due to nutrition deficiency. The prevalent factors causing malnutrition are
- Children are often neglected due to work conditions of parents and suffer innumerable diseases or deaths due to lack of nutrition
- Adequate nutrition through food & supplements could save these children
- Addressing malnutrition could also impact high birth rate in these regions that expect some of their offspring to die
- Action plan to use 3-pronged approach to tackle Malnutrition: providing proper medical supervision, educating parents and providing nutritional supplements
GALLERY
