Author: Smile Team

~Sampoorna-The nutrition enhancement program aims at reducing the prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in Banaskantha district, Gujarat~

New Delhi, January 29, 2021: Smile Foundation has highlighted how its intensive interventions through project ‘Sampoorna’ in Banaskantha district of Gujarat, brought about a remarkable change in the health outcomes of adolescent girls. The project was supported by Pepsico Foundation. The ground-breaking comprehensive nutrition enhancement program for 1,000 adolescent girls from 10 villages in Block Amirgarh, District Banaskantha, Gujarat, increased consumption of IFA, de-worming and multi-vitamin tablets, substantially increased Hemoglobin levels in adolescent girls and created positive outcomes in their Body Mass Index (BMI).

As far as Hemoglobin levels were concerned, due to the project intervention, the incidence of severe to moderate anemia fell from nearly 78 percent to around 34 percent. There was a considerable turnaround in the consumption of multi-vitamins and Iron and Folic Acid supplements as well. While the consumption of IFA tablets went up from 14.3 percent to 47.9 percent, consumption of multi-vitamins increased from 15.10 percent to 44.4 percent and consumption of de-worming tablets increased from 6.35 percent to 7.24 percent.

There was a remarkable improvement in the BMIs of the adolescent girls as well. The percentage of underweight girls decreased from 70.2 percent to 13.8 percent and those with normal weight increased from 29.5 to 86.1 percent. The project outcomes were shared by Smile Foundation in a virtual session with the theme- ‘Sustainability in Nutrition Intervention for Adolescent Girls’

The event on January 22 was attended by eminent personalities such as Dr. Sumantra Pal – Economic Advisor, Ministry of Women & Child Development (Government of India); Manisha Chandra – Secretary & Commissioner, Women & Child Development (Government of Gujarat) and panelists from various development partner organizations.

Praising the work done under the project, Dr. Sumantra Pal, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India said,” It is commendable how the project has been able to deliver and initiate behavioural change despite challenges, especially due to the pandemic. Nutrition in adolescent girls is a critical subject, cutting across various SDGs. We congratulate Smile and Pepsi Co. for their efforts to promote behavioural change and steps to reduce anemia in young girls.”

Congratulating Smile Foundation, Ms. Manisha Chandra, Secretary & Commissioner, Women & Child Development, Government of Gujarat, said,” I would like to congratulate Smile for wonderful efforts in the sector. The success stories shared today inspire us to replicate the project in other parts of Gujarat. The Sampoorna Project works in tandem with SDG-2, but the SDG2 is the basis for achieving all the other goals, therefore the learnings shared today become extremely important for us.”

Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “In the Sampoorna project, more than the improvement in the hemoglobin levels of 1,000 adolescent girls, it is the awareness and behavioural change we have been able to trigger in them, their families, and the larger community that I feel is our biggest achievement. This is so evident when you hear the girls talk, in how they conduct themselves. The project gave them an opportunity to not just step out of their homes, but also break the social barriers that had prevented them from truly utilizing their potential. They are now confident and outspoken. They are informed and aware about their food and health choices. They have become financially independent; many who had discontinued their education, have opened up to learning again. I remember our project coordinator sharing that together, they even prevented two child marriages from happening.These little victories are no less important, in fact they are more so. And this is what we are celebrating today – Real Work, Real Change, which incidentally also happens to be our motto at Smile.”

Juhi Gupta, Head – Sustainability PepsiCo India, Foundation said, “Winning with Purpose continues to remain at the heart of PepsiCo & so does the focus on safe water, nutrition & other development needs for the underserved communities. We are happy to have partnered with Smile Foundation on this project to address the nutritional needs of the adolescent girls which continues to pose as a major challenge across the Country. It’s encouraging to see the positive outcomes achieved through improvement in haemoglobin levels and adoption of better nutritional habits by the target cohorts- this truly has been a great partnership and a memorable journey.”

Project ‘Sampoorna ’was introduced in 2018 to make a difference to the status of women’s health with Smile Foundation as the implementing partner and PepsiCo Foundation as the donor under their CSR initiative. The project was formulated after a  baseline study, conducted by Smile Foundation to assess the nutritional status of adolescent girls (14 to 19 years) in the region, revealed that 78% of adolescent girls were anemic (varying from mild to severe), with 50% girls being moderately anemic and about 13% being severely anemic. The survey also revealed that only 17.6% were attending school, with most respondents (49%) dropping out of school after Class 6 or 8. The study further revealed that around 84% of the respondents have never consumed any multi-vitamin or iron folic acid supplements, and most of them having no awareness of anemia or ever having checked their anemic status.

India carries the highest burden of the disease despite having an anemia control program for over 70 years.  Covering 1,000 women from 10 villages in the Banaskantha district, the project has been designed as a pilot program for addressing the prevalence of anemia among girls. The project tries to introduce behavioural changes regarding proper dietary practices, and help improve nutrition quotient, while also empowering the girls with livelihood capabilities.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation, is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~AthenaHealth supports running of Smile on Wheels mobile healthcare unit in Chennai~

30 August 2021, Chennai:  AthenaHealth has come forward to support Smile Foundation’s Health Cannot Wait campaign to strengthen public health infrastructure and provide primary healthcare to people. AthenaHealth has supporting the running of Smile on Wheels mobile healthcare unit in Chennai, which will provide primary healthcare services in an area of Chennai with around 17,600 households and 88,000 people.

Smile on Wheels is a national-level mobile hospital program catering to underprivileged children and women. The program takes well-equipped medical vans along with specialized doctors, nurses, medical staff, and medicines to identified villages and slums in a systematic manner.

The objective of the program is to ensure improved health services reach the doorstep of people residing in unserved or underserved areas. The Smile Foundation on Wheels program has so far provided free healthcare services to more than 1.5 million children and families.

Smile on Wheels vans cover rural or slum areas where either no government health care facilities exist or where those that do exist do not provide sufficient care for the population. Each unit covers the vicinity of up to 25 kms from its center and visits 2-3 villages a day on a regular basis. In emergency cases, it functions as a referral clinic and an ambulance. The vans are stationed in an urban center, usually with a static hospital, which provisions like a referral medical center. The team also carries out awareness activities on health and hygiene to achieve health seeking behavior.

The services provided include OPD, ante-natal/post-natal services, identification of difficult pregnancy and referral for institutional care, immunizations, minor surgery, BP examination, X-ray, ECG, first aid, distribution of Iron folic tablets, Vit-A prophylaxis, and treatment of mal-nutrient cases. The built-in referral network includes both public and private providers and although care is not free, it is heavily subsidized. Smile on Wheels moves in areas with concentration of underprivileged people. Through optimization in resource utilization the cost is kept to the minimum. On average, the units under SOW charge INR 10 for OPD, whereas basic blood and urine tests are done at as low as INR 25.

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken India and seems to be even more devastating than the first. Fighting the new, more infectious variant of the virus, frontline health workers are working round the clock even as hospitals run out of beds and oxygen supply, and thousands succumb to preventable deaths. India has become the second-worst affected country, with more than 28 million cases, and more than 349,000 deaths.[1]

During this time of need, Smile Foundation has come forward with its ‘Health Cannot Wait’ campaign to strengthen public health infrastructure.

Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “As the pandemic continues, there is a need to strengthen systems and provide relief to as many people as possible. Corporates, citizens, the government, and civil society organizations are working together to address the situation. We are delighted to be partnered by AthenaHealth, as their support will go a long way in bolstering our efforts under the Health Cannot Wait campaign.”

Talking about the partnership, XXX, CEO, AthenaHealth said, “AthenaHealth is a responsible stakeholder in the healthcare ecosystem of the country. Through our support to Smile on Wheels, we want to increase outreach to the unserved and underserved, helping our community during these testing times.”

Smile Foundation’s Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oximeters & oxygen concentrators. It entails the setting up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilization of PPE Kits & N-95 Masks for frontline health workers, distribution of Hygiene Kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters), tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-appropriate behavior and the provision of primary healthcare services to reduce the load on existing health infrastructure.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided over 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to Covid patients.

An important part of the campaign is the provision of free teleconsultation to the underprivileged through a toll-free number for tele-calling and outreach through bulk SMS service. The tele-consultation emphasizes the personal and community benefits of vaccination. Its objective is to address questions of people who are hesitant to get vaccinated, dispel myths, give them the right information, and encourage them to get vaccinated. So far, Smile Foundation has sensitized more than 100,000 people through tele-counseling and aims to reach out to 500,000 people through this medium.

Smile Foundation is providing doorstep healthcare services to around one million people from 2,200 marginalized communities in 14 states. It aims to benefit 2 million people with mobile hospital & telemedicine projects in FY 21-22.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign has so far provided over 80,000 kits of protective gear to frontline health workers and aims to provide 1 million protective gear kits to frontline health workers. As part of this campaign, so far, over 2,00,000 hygiene kits have been provided to vulnerable communities, and the target is to provide 500,000 hygiene kits.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families, and the community.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~ Hiring expected to increase in 2022 according to Smile Foundation’s Twin E-learning programme team~

New Delhi, December XX, 2021:The banking and financial services, retail and hospitality sectors are expected to lead the hiring of skilled young professionals in the coming year, according to Smile Foundation, an Indian Development Organisation.

Smile Foundation’s Twin E-learning programme team highlights that India’s services sector hiring will increase around 23% in 2022, as the economy experiences post-pandemic recovery.

Smile Foundation initiated the Smile Twin E-learning Programme  (STeP) to equip the youth by training and upskilling them for employment. This livelihood mission is in strong alignment with the Government of India’s ‘Skill India’ initiative. This initiative aims to skill underprivileged youth from urban slums in the 18-32 years age bracket and is operational through 81 centers across 18 cities in 16 states.

COVID-19 triggered a massive shift in hiring across sectors. According to WHO, ‘Millions of enterprises faced an existential threat. Nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion global workforces lost their livelihoods’. During this time, Smile Foundation reprogrammed its employability training for underprivileged youth to better suit the post-pandemic era.

Furthermore, the CEDA-CMIE Bulletin that looks at changes in employment, consumer sentiment, household and individual incomes and expenditures in India using data provided by the CMIE, has pointed out that 40 million people lost jobs in urban India in April 2020 and 73 million in rural India. In April and May 2021, 10.10 million people lost jobs in urban India, whereas 12.58 million lost jobs in rural India. The repercussions of the pandemic on rural India’s employment showcase the underlying challenge of training and upskilling.

Santanu Mishra Co-founder and trustee Smile Foundation said: “Our SteP programme has strived to equip youth with skills required for service sector jobs. We introduced new contactless courses across the board for underprivileged youth under the STeP programme. We are preparing youth for jobs in the sectors that will require the most skilled youth. So far, Smile Foundation has trained over 65,000 youth through its STePprogramme and more than 45,000 of them have been placed in over 350 brands across India.” 

Through this national-level programme, Smile Foundation trains underprivileged youth in English Proficiency, Basic Computer skills and Soft Skills for enhancing their prospects of employment in the fast-expanding BFSI, retail, hospitality, e-logisticsand supply chain management sectors. In the healthcare space, Smile Foundation equips youth to be absorbed as general duty assistantsand patient care specialists.

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and slums in 25 states.

Media Contact: 

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected] | 9811502059

Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Smile Foundation, under its health cannot wait campaign, is providing doorstep delivery of critical healthcare services across India~

31^st May 2021, New Delhi:  The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the country and seems to be even more devastating than the first. Fighting the new, more infectious variant of the virus, frontline health workers are working round the clock even as hospitals run out of beds and oxygen supply, and thousands succumb to preventable deaths. India has become the second-worst affected country, with more than 24 million cases, and more than 270,000 deaths.[1]

During this time of need, Smile Foundation has come forward with its ‘Health Cannot Wait’ campaign to strengthen the existing public health infrastructure.

Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “The pandemic has put to test the entire healthcare infrastructure, and our main motive is to support the country, help the underprivileged get timely access to healthcare, and spread awareness to tackle vaccine hesitancy in remote areas.”

“It is important to understand the reality and educate everyone about the virus. Young people are much more affected in the second wave,” Mishra added.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators and oximeters. It entails the setting up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilization of PPE Kits, N-95 Masks and sanitizers for frontline health workers, distribution of Hygiene Kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters) to the vulnerable population, tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-appropriate behavior and the provision of primary healthcare services to reduce the load on existing health infrastructure.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to Covid patients.

An important part of the campaign is the provision of free tele-consultation to the underprivileged through a toll-free number for tele-calling and outreach through bulk SMS service. The tele-consultation will emphasize the personal and community benefits of vaccination. Its objective is to address questions of people who are hesitant to get vaccinated, dispel myths, give them the right information, and encourage them to get vaccinated. Smile Foundation has sensitized more than 100,000 people through tele-counseling and aims to reach out to 500,000 people through this medium.

Smile Foundation is providing doorstep healthcare services to around one million people from 2,200 marginalized communities in 14 states. It aims to benefit 2 million people with mobile hospital & telemedicine projects in FY 21-22.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign has so far provided over 80,000 protective gears to frontline health workers and aims to provide 1 million protective gears to frontline health workers. As part of this campaign, so far, over 2,00,000 hygiene kits have been provided to vulnerable communities, and the target is to provide 500,000 hygiene kits.

 About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation, is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families, and the community.

 Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Union Health Minister launches initiative by Smile Foundation, Ericsson Global Services India~

~Abhishek Singh, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Delhi also graced the launch event~

 New Delhi, November 15: Smile Foundation has launched a mega COVID Relief program in partnership with Ericsson Global Services India under the former’s Health Cannot Wait campaign. The collaboration aims to drive access to quality health for all. The COVID relief program was launched by Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister, Health and Family Welfare.

The pandemic pressured the country’s public healthcare infrastructure and services. Over the period of the pandemic, through interventions from private and public organizations, India has successfully strengthened healthcare services and their delivery.  Response to the second wave of the pandemic depended upon availability of steady oxygen supply. As India readies to face a third wave, Smile Foundation has partnered with Ericsson to eliminate the shortage of oxygen supply in hospitals and covid-care centers in the country by providing 148 Oxygen Concentrators across Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. The partnership will provide 2,33,766 RT PCR kits in 4 states, namely Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.

While many faced health challenges, the underprivileged in India had to contend with additional socio-economic barriers, in the form of loss of work due to repeated lockdowns. To help slum dwellers and villagers survive another wave, Ericsson Global Services India and Smile Foundation will distribute 3,445 dry ration kits across Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.

Launching the initiative, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India said, “INSERT APPROVED QUOTE”

 Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “The pandemic has affected many who need care and attention. We have successfully provided immediate relief to covid patients and health workers by maintaining steady supply of oxygen and protective gear through the ‘Smile On Wheels’ initiative. We thank Ericsson Global Services India for collaborating with us and helping us make health a priority for all during the Covid-19 outbreak.”

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Amitabh Ray, MD of Ericsson Global Services India said, “Insert Quote”.

Smile Foundation’s Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oximeters &oxygen concentrators. It entails the setting up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilization of PPE Kits & N-95 Masks for frontline health workers, distribution of Hygiene Kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters), tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-appropriate behavior and the provision of primary healthcare services.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided over 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to Covid patients.

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/