HEALTH & NUTRITION

We are addressing the grave issue of malnutrition through Pregnant mothers as well as children from 0-6 years of age are addressed through a contact program which educates the mothers about healthy cooking, parenting and healthcare for themselves and their children.

The children found to be malnourished are put on a rigorous nutritional diet duly supplemented by vitamins and micro-nutrients to ensure that they grow to their fullest potential. We invite you to come forth and help shape a healthy and disease free generation.
Our Work: Key Interventions


     

It is a well-known fact that investing in health can create a true, positive multiplier effect! 9 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)* are directly addressed by improvising nutrition. With some of the largest number of malnourished children currently living in India, there is no better place and time to focus our efforts than here and now.
Purpose : 100% healthy and intelligent children in the areas we work.
Goal : Our goal is to Improvise pregnancy outcomes and reducing infant mortality for over 1,00,000 children cumulatively by 2024.
Vision : Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Mission : Improved nutrition ensuring that no-one is left behind.

THE GOLDEN 1000 DAYS:


The first 1,000 days between conception and the child’s second birthday are crucial for the health and well-being of the mother and child, with the period often referred as ‘the golden 1000 days.’ A crucial and vulnerable period, this phase carries with it a significant risk of maternal and child mortality and morbidity. Proper health and nutrition practices in this golden period not only impact survival, but have a profound impact on the child’s cognitive and physical growth


SMDT’s interventions focus on zeroing down on the neediest mothers and children across this golden period, and ensure full service delivery to them – from timely identification to proper management at the village or facility-level, to adequate follow-ups. We work closely with and through the government, and in close collaboration with communities to design and implement the solutions. Our vision is to ensure “every mother and each child has an equal start to a healthy life”.


Through this visual series, we discuss the importance of different stages along the ‘golden 1000-day period’, along with examples of impact stories from our interventions. IMPACT STORY :Feedback on skill-based training Joint field visits by our team and block officials as part of our supportive supervision


Through various demonstrations, the training was provided in a manner which was very easy for us to absorb and would help us in solving the problems we face in our (day to day) work. This will give impetus to our work. (More) such trainings should happen so that we not only avoid mistakes in our (routine) work but also improve the quality of services we provide.


Background Our flagship program brought to scale solutions in ante-natal care, safe delivery, newborn care, and child nutrition to address infant mortality, maternal mortality and malnutrition.


       

Explore the different stages along the 1,000 days

Stage 1: PREGNANCY
Simple healthcare practices like regular antenatal check-ups, vaccinations and good nutrition across the 9-month pregnancy period are vital for the mother’s and child’s health.Our interventions ensure timely identification and management of the highest-risk mothers and children. Our stories from the ground tells how we Platform enables this.
   









Stage 2: BIRTH + 48 Hours
We encourage deliveries in a hospital. Well-trained birthing nurses and properly managed labor rooms are essential to ensure the survival and good health of the mother and child,
   









Stage 3: NEONATAL PERIOD
Timely follow-ups and proper care for the newborn and the mother in the first four weeks post-delivery are critical. Our interventions teach frontline workers essential maternal, child health and nutrition concepts across the 1,000 days.
   









Stage 4: CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Proper healthcare and nutrition till age-2, and beyond, are critical for the child’s physical growth and mental development.Read our impact story on how frontline workers identified a child with severe acute malnutrition using our intervention, and took appropriate measures for her treatment.
   
 

Donate to our program and sponsor the treatment along with the upkeep of malnourished children, or choose to volunteer at our malnourishment camps.

OUR IMPACT

  • 10125
    HEALTH & AWARENESS

    We engage the broader community through health education, awareness campaigns, health fairs and dental camps. We teach children in ZP school directly about healthy eating. Our aim is to raise the standard of nutrition across the entire community.


    An ENT, Ophthalmic, dental assessment and treatment camp were held in July and December addressing 17,016 beneficiaries and Medical Aid to 72 patients suffering from critical illnesses.


    We have also reached out to 11,995 people through awareness session in the community about Water borne diseases, Breast cancer awareness, harmful effects of tobacco, importance of de-worming. AIDS awareness rally along with a street play demonstrating the reason of AIDS and precautions to be taken.


    We have also educated and assessed 771 children on physical & behavioral changes during adolescence, communicable diseases and precautions to be taken and first aid education at Remand home at Tilaknagar, Cannosa Girls hostel and Anand Vihar - home for destitute children.


  • 173682
    TREATING CRITICAL ILLNESS
  • 1483
    MATERNAL HEALTH

    A dedicated team of doctors, nurses, nutritionist and field officers ensure that pregnant mothers have healthy pregnancies and the children are born healthy. Proper nutrition during the first thousand days of a child’s life, from conception until their second birthday is the key factor in ensuring that they survive and reach their potential. The team is responsible for delivering both preventive and treatment programmes. Our team follows an evidence based “Essential Nutrition Action” (ENA) as per global standards.


    The 7 ENAs include :-
    1. Nutrition counselling during pregnancy.
    2. Counselling on importance on intake of iodized salt. (To prevent mental retardation).
    3. Importance of prenatal vitamins and iron to pregnant mothers.
    4. Importance of exclusive breastfeeding.
    5. Importance of variety of nutrient dense complementary food from 6 months onwards and good hygiene practices.
    6. Empowering mothers to take care of minor illnesses (e.g.: Curing diarrhoea with ORS and zinc)
    7. Management of acute malnutrition (through RUTF)

    By building relationships with the community in order to implement the core program, we have achieved excellent results. Monitoring and evaluation activities through the collection of timely, relevant, accessible, high-quality information is ensured. As a part of better parenting lesson we demonstrate proper feeding practices and cooking demonstration to display various food recipes to address nutrient deficiency.


    Healthcare and child development with a focus on prevention and education is a cost effective tools to make a lasting impact. We replicate our model by reaching out in partnership with other NGOs, communities, hospitals and like-minded organizations.
  • 1315
    REDUCED CHILD MORTALITY

    Our approach to the subject has taken a whole new perspective. Whilst working in the community and primarily firefighting Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderately Acute Malnutrition (MAM) children which is Acute malnutrition, we realized that a greater focus on two aspects was not being given as much impetuous as is warranted, mainly :-


    1. Chronic Malnutrition: It is like slow poisoning. Slowly over a period of a few months the child is malnourished due to Type II nutrients (which are growth promoting micronutrients). The deficiency of these can cause huge physical & mental defects like stunting and poor cognitive development which can seriously handicap the child for a lifetime.
    2. Future prevention of Malnutrition: Educating communities and especially girls from the age of 10 years (adolescence) in the subject of nutrition is a key to future generation’s not falling prey to this deficiency. Intervention in community with women at all stages of life will prevent malnutrition. When women who are of an age to bear children are adequately empowered with knowledge about good nutrition & well being it leads a to healthy pregnancy and thus a healthy baby. We believe prevention of deficiency through education and training programs will be more effective than curing it in the future.
    3. In addition to malnutrition prevention & eradication, we conduct programs emphasizing disease control and prevention activities, education to improve domestic child-care and feeding practices like one on one nutritional counseling, cooking demos, home visits and micronutrient supplementation, street plays aimed at informing, training and empowering our communities on early child developmental awareness. Activities are targeted towards the most vulnerable age groups (children under 6, mainly under 3 and pregnant & lactating women), while Supplementary feeding activities are better targeted towards those who need it most, and growth-monitoring activities are performed with greater regularity, with an emphasis on using this process to help parents understand how to improve their children’s health and nutrition.
    4. SMDT helps to prevent and treat malnutrition directly, at the grass-roots level, and by the “training of trainers”. This approach allows us to reach many more families. Many of those in our communities do not understand the importance of a varied diet, exclusive breastfeeding, avoidance of junk food, handwashing and other basic learning to promote good health. Education in these matters can make a huge difference, especially during the first 1000 days of a child’s life (from conception until two years).
 

ERADICATION OF MALNUTRITION

TRAINING THE TRAINERS

SUCCESS STORY