Action Against Hunger is delighted to be a member of the Generation Nutrition campaign, an advocacy campaign calling on governments and the international community to take urgent action to prioritize the fight against acute malnutrition and save the lives of millions of children under the age of five.

This campaign brings together a diverse and growing group of civil society organizations who wish to see an end to child deaths from acute malnutrition. The campaign is based on the belief that, with strong political will, our goal of a world free of child deaths from acute malnutrition can be achieved within a generation.

Earlier this year, in Delhi, Action Against Hunger, along with Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, Water Aid and World Vision brought together different stakeholders on a common platform to agree on an “Appeal for action” to urge the Government of India to take action and save the lives of millions of children with severe acute malnutrition.

Find out more about this exciting global campaign here

Action Against Hunger conducts a Study to test a new energy-dense food for malnourished children
India holds the regrettable record of being home to one of four children in the world who are affected by the worst form of undernutrition.

The treatment of this Severe Acute Malnutrition ( SAM) involves the use of energy dense therapeutic food, the ingredients of which includes milk powder, sugar, micronutrients and peanut paste. Being an expensive product and unaffordable by the vulnerable community, Action Against Hunger led a study to research the formulation of a recipe, with locally available ingredients such as lentils, oats, vegetable oils and a certain blend of vitamins and minerals which would be affordable and help treat more children of this devastating condition.

There was a special focus to research on the acceptability factor- did children like this new recipe ? Did they ask for more ? Were there any adverse effects, and did the child bounce back to health ? The study was conducted in Baran district of Rajasthan and the results would suggest a recommendation on the usage of this low priced Medical Nutrition Therapy to reduce the burden of Severely Malnourished children in India. For more details on this report please write to aiyer@fighthungerfoundation.org

Mumbai, 20 June 2018:

The Dawoodi Bohra community, in partnership with Action Against Hunger, launched Project Rise at Govandi, Mumbai. Project Rise aims to contribute towards alleviating hunger in some of the poorest parts of India and significantly raise health and nutrition levels of children suffering from severe malnutrition.

Project Rise will begin by supporting families in Mokhada and Govandi, immediately impacting the lives of impoverished families and creating the possibility for brighter and healthier futures. The word ‘rise’ in the initiative’s very name illustrates the ultimate purpose of this project: to help raise the less fortunate and disenfranchised of our societies to higher plateaus of material and spiritual well-being, and to inspire the more fortunate among us to rise to the occasion by contributing their time, resources and passion to this cause.Mr. Yusuf Mukarram of Project Rise commented, “His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, lays great emphasis on the need to show kindness to the less fortunate and to help those in need. Syedna has often stated that those in need and those who come to their aid both ‘rise’ as a result of helping one another. As a result of this guidance, Dawoodi Bohra communities have established social programs all over the world targeted at improving and uplifting the human condition. The launch of Project Rise in Mumbai will focus resources on combating malnutrition and providing mothers, caregivers and local health workers with disease prevention techniques. The primary aim being to ensure healthy futures for children. ”

The launch of Project Rise coincided with Eid Celebrations in the community of Govandi. A special Eid meal was organized by Faiz al-Mawaid al-Burhaniyah – the Dawoodi Bohra community kitchen program – Over 100 men, women and children from Umerkhadi and Sathe Nagar were hosted. Families also enjoyed a skit called ‘Nukkad Natak’ performed by local artists with a message of improving health and nutrition.

Mr. Mukarram continued, “That so many children in Mumbai suffer from malnutrition is both tragic and ironic given that this city is the financial hub of our country. The Dawoodi Bohra community is convinced that all of us can and must do more to reduce child mortality rates related to malnutrition and preventable diseases. That is why we are joining forces with Action Against Hunger to create Project Rise. I urge everyone in Mumbai to support our cause in the fight against malnutrition as we strive to create a hunger-free India.”

Nearly one in four children risk being severely malnourished in Govandi and Mokhada. Young children in Govandi, with low immunity levels, are particularly susceptible to infections due to air pollution from the Deonar dumping ground. This can lead to loss of appetite, rapid weight loss, malnutrition and the risk of mortality.

Dr Wasundhara Joshi, Executive Director and member of the Board of Action Against Hunger, commented, “In order to truly succeed in our global goal of eradicating hunger by 2030, strategic alliances and innovative partnerships are more vital than ever. We’re delighted that the Dawoodi Bohra community has come forward to support families and be a part of our lifesaving community interventions.”

Societe Generale in partnership with Action Against Hunger inaugurated a new packaging machine at Sion Hospital’s Nutrition Rehabilitation Center in Mumbai on 17th July 2018.

Mr Sujit Kadakia along with senior members of the team did the honors and dedicated this machine to the therapeutic food production center of Sion Hospital.

Set up in 2011, the NRRTC produces Ready to Use Therapeutic Food ( RUTF) used for the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. This paste consists of milk powder, roasted peanuts, sugar and about 20 essential micronutrients, minerals and vitamins that is used to treat children who are severely malnourished.

The RUTF matches WHO’s quality standards of production and is an essential component in saving lives of children, living with almost 11 times the risk of dying due to malnutrition.

INNOVATION FOR CHANGE

With the new packaging machine, the production setup has a marked improvement in efficiency and capacity. Earlier, the RUTF was packaged in small cups that ran the risk of spillage, contamination and limited shelf life. Also, the capacity was limited to filling 6 cups per minute and could produce RUTF for 100 children per day. With Societe General’s support, we have purchased a new sachet packaging machine that can pack 15 pouches per minute, increasing the capacity to 150 children per day, saving almost 8% of the packaging cost and improving the storage capacity.

The RUTF produced by Sion Hospital is being used to treat children suffering from acute malnutrition and cancer at Sion hospital, KEM, Cooper hospital and Tata Memorial hospital.

Continuing with our underlying principle of consistent innovation in addressing malnutrion, we are in the process of identifying and testing alternatives to peanut such as soybean that will further bring down sourcing and production costs.

SOCIETE GENERALE’S FIGHT AGAINST MALNUTRITION

Societe Generale is one of the founding members of Action Against Hunger and has been supporting its malnutrition treatment project in Govandi since 2015. The Govandi program involves screening children under 5 years of age for signs of acute malnutrition, providing clinic-based treatment to malnourished children, counselling mothers and caretakers on nutrition and hygiene and improving the overall awareness in the community on the causes, effects and preventive measures of malnutrition. To make our programs sustainable, we train Government frontline workers on identifying the early signs of acute malnutrition and taking corrective action.

Under the project, Action Against Hunger has screened over 12,000 children under 5 years of age, treated over 600 acutely malnourished children, conducted more than 7000 community mobilization and awareness sessions, trained 266 Government frontline workers and reached out to a population of 52,000 with Societe Generale’s support.

Our Malnutrition treatment program in Baran, Rajasthan was awarded the Most Promising Social Programme that complements the Zero Hunger at the CauseBecause event on 22nd June at New Delhi. The event saw 86 nominations for the award under 17 different SDG’s. The Baran project titled “Navoday” complements the Zero Hunger – Sustainable Development Goal.

About Navoday

Action Against Hunger started its work in Baran in 2011 in close partnership with the local health and ICDS departments specially tasked to tackle malnutrition in the local tribes. Our work primarily involves active screening, effective referral and promoting treatment, prevention education and system strengthening.

In 2016, we became the technical partners for the largest State Government led program on tackling malnutrition in the country. POSHAN (Proactive and Optimum care of children, through Social- Household Approach for Nutrition), a joint initiative by National Health Mission, Rajasthan along with UNICEF and GAIN started the first phase of the program in 41 blocks of 13 high priority districts, 1574 villages, 2500 government workers reaching out to over 2,34,404 children. A community-based model of managing acute malnutrition was integrated into the health system and post the success of phase 1; the government has now launched phase 2 covering 20 districts that will save the lives of more than 17000 malnourished children.

In the last 6 years as part of the preventive model, we have touched the lives of 5670 malnourished children in 283 villages, affecting the lives of almost 220,000 people.

The joy of giving week or Daan Utsav is celebrated in India as a week of charity in the first week of October every year. Various corporate houses and their employees come together to support nonprofit organizations of their choice through donations, in kind giving, volunteering etc.

For the 2nd year in a row, Sanofi put up a wish tree at their Powai office for voluntary contributions by their employees towards saving lives of malnourished children in Mumbai. We are absolutely thrilled to have received a fantastic response from hundreds employees who came in full enthusiasm to understand the program and be a part of the journey. It was quite a sight to see the initially empty wish tree getting filled up with leaves of good wishes in no time! A huge thanks to Sanofi and their employees for supporting us on Daan Utsav which will go a long way in supporting our fight against Malnutrition and reaching our goal of a Hunger Free India.

In our endeavour to reach out to every malnourished child, Action Against Hunger partnered with Terna Medical College to establish 2 Outpatient Therapeutic Centers to detect and treat malnourished children in the Navi-Mumbai region. The new center at Turbhe was inaugurated by a local resident attending the child screening session on 7th September and was graced by Action Against Hunger and Terna Medical College representatives.

The centres, established at Turbhe and Gavhan, are being supported by Credit Suisse will reach out to a total population of 84,000 with including over 8,000 children under 5 years of age. Trained Action Against Hunger and Terna Medical College workers will screen children for signs of acute malnutrition, provide then Energy Dense Nutrition Supplement (EDNS), counsel mothers on nutrition, care, hygiene and other necessary topics. Apart from this, community mobilizers will also ensure that the enrolled children do not skip treatment through continuous home visits. Case with medical complications will be supported by Terna Hospital and Sion Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC).

To connect local residents to the treatment centre, we will train Anganwadi and ASHA workers on identifying signs of malnutrition in children and linking them to the OTC.

An inter-state knowledge sharing meet, 14th December 2018, Mumbai

Action Against Hunger* – India organised a Consultation on Poshan Abhiyaan, National Nutrition Mission, the flagship program of the Government of India that aims at improving nutrition outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The meet brought together stakeholders from different States in India, all working towards tackling the causes and consequences of malnutrition in children. This Inter-State Knowledge Sharing Meet was held on 14th December 2018 and provided a platform for cross learning from each other.

The keynote address was delivered by Ms Indira Mallo, Commissioner ICDS, Government of Maharashtra who spoke about the increasing importance of strengthening the nutrition schemes being provided to children under the ICDS.

Among the dignitaries present were Mr Ashok Bhargava, Commissioner ICDS, Govt of Madhya Pradesh, Dr Manoj Kumar, State Consultant, Poshan Abhiyaan, ICDS, Bihar, Dr Rajesh Patil, Assistant Director, Women and Child Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh and Ms Suprabha Agarwal, Director, State Nutrition Mission, Government of Maharashtra.

The guests included members from Development Sector, Academia, Hospitals, Civil society and Development officers from the field.

The opening remarks by Mr. Ashwini Kakkar, Chairman, Action Against Hunger, was followed by a brief on our programs by Ms Meeta Mathur, Head of Department, Health and Nutrition. The guests from MP and Bihar shared with us the significant innovations and measures being taken by them to tackle malnutrition in their respective States.

Thereafter followed a panel discussion on “Inter departmental convergence under Nutrition Mission” moderated by Smt. Suprabha Agarwal, Director, State Nutrition Mission, Govt of Maharashtra. The panellists included members from CDPO who shared ample examples of on-ground realities and insights from the field.

The objective of the consultation meeting was met, as the audience and the speakers shared their experiences, challenges and learnings in implementing this Jan Andolan across the three States.

20th January 2019 was quite a day for Action Against Hunger. We had a team of 160 passionate runners representing us and supporting the critical cause of malnutrition at the TATA Mumbai Marathon 2019.

Not only was this the biggest team representing Action Against Hunger, but also the most diverse. Runners from various backgrounds, ages, geographies and occupations came together wholeheartedly to raise a united voice against malnutrition and drive support towards a Hunger Free India.

For the 2019 edition, we had corporate runners from Legrand, Givaudan, K Hospitality and Drumsfood participating in the Half Marathon, Open 10K and the Dream Run events. For the 2nd year in a row our young star Daniel Tapia proudly ran for Action against Hunger and raised over 1 lakh rupees though his heartfelt appeal in an online fundraiser. Joining the run this year, we also had our passionate field teams from Palghar, Dharni and Govandi in the Dream Run event.

We are truly overwhelmed by the continued support of our individual and corporate partners year after year and are looking forward the the 2020 edition of the TATA Mumbai Marathon.

The TATA Mumbai Marathon brings together citizens of various backgrounds from the entire country and unites them through the joy of running. It highlights the great spirit of this city in supporting various charities and causes. The 2019 edition of the marathon saw over 44,000 participants, some running for their passion, some to push themselves while some supporting a cause they believe in.

Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), is the National Association of Public Relations and Communication professionals established in 1958 to promote recognition of Public Relations as a profession and to formulate and interpret to the public the goals and the potential of public relations as a strategic management function. PRSI uses communication tools in order to build public opinion on various issues of national and social importance.

PRSI national awards for excellence are organized every year to promote excellence in Public Relations and Communication. In 2018, Action Against Hunger India, received the award for the best “Public Relations in Action” from PRSI on 08th December, from the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in Dehradun for their advocacy project “Building an enabling environment for improved nutrition results in India” implemented in Rajasthan with the State government for the POSHAN (Proactive and Optimum zcare of children, through Social- Household Approach for Nutrition) programme