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Author: Smile Editorial Team

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In The Spotlight

Gender equality for a better India!

What Happens When Girls are Stopped from Going to Schools?
What Happens When Girls are Stopped from Going to Schools?

Over the past decade, gender equality has been recognized as key not only to the health of nations, but also to their social and economic development. The promotion of gender equality and empowering of women is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. But even though India is a signatory to the goal, unfortunately it lags far behind in terms of gender equality as a major portion of our population; verily the half of humanity – the female sex, continues to be denied not just their rights and an equal status, but even the chance to survive.

 

The Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in India, which has constantly been on the decline since Independence, has appallingly touched an all-time low. From 976 in 1961, to 927 in 2001, 914 in 2011 and 899 in 2018, the decline in CSR rings a threatening alarm for the country. Why?

 

Child Sex Ratio is the number of female children in the age group of 0-6 per thousand of male children in the same age group, at any given point of time. Since it counts six years after birth too, a decline in CSR means that not only are lesser girl children allowed to take birth, but even after birth, the chances of their survival are much lower, when compared to male children.

 

Amartya Sen’s seminal essay, ‘More than 100 Million Women are Missing’, in New York Times in 1990 about the skewed sex ratio in Asia and Africa, stands true for India even three decades later, though in a much more frightening proportion when applied to the Child Sex Ratio. This is because CSR is not only a reflection of the present gender bias in society, but also a wake-up call warning of the steep and unavoidable gender imbalance in the future.

 

It is significant that while the country has progressed in every sector since the Independence, be it education, commerce or health, the Child Sex Ratio has witnessed a continuous decline. Why one may ask, if more people are educated and aware now; many are financially better off to raise children; government policies support families with girl children, then why this decline? Many blame it on the advances in medical technology that have come over the years, enabling sex detection and sex selective abortion.

 

It is true that technical advances have facilitated avoidance of unwanted births. While earlier female infanticide was resorted to, now it is female foeticide that is more readily used to prevent girls from taking birth. The country’s policy makers recognized this menace in 1994 and tried to prevent the misuse of Ultrasound and other diagnostic techniques though the Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. But since then, the Child Sex Ratio has only declined further.

 

 

It is important to realize that technology is not the real cause behind the dropping CSR, it is only a catalyst. The questions – why these methods are resorted to, why girl children are not allowed to take birth, or allowed to survive beyond their early years, must be answered to understand the root cause behind the decline in Child Sex Ratio. The answer is the prevalence of a strong son preference in our society. Even after ages, this gender bias continues to put expecting mothers into undue pressure as families and society continue to prefer male children.

 

Child Sex Ratio is an indicator of not only gender balance or lack thereof, but also a trigger for trends in important aspects of development in any society – education, health, employment and empowerment. This is because women, as forbearers of the next generation, have a key role in building the future of a nation. If women are healthy, educated and empowered, it is more likely that their children will go to school, their families will be healthy and communities will prosper.

 

It is time we recognize the central role a woman plays in welfare of a family, of a society, indeed, of the whole country and give her an equal chance. Laws and policies will not be able to recover the missing girl children unless the society itself becomes a friendly and conducive space and welcomes girl children with open arms.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s work on girl child empowerment visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/she-can-fly/

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Insights

Nutrition support for better learning outcomes

Nutrition support for better learning outcomes

When six year old Kiran Waghe joined the Mission Education centre at Kalyan in Maharashtra, her teachers took note of her extreme health condition. She was visibly malnourished, looked much smaller for her age and was covered in dirt.

 

On interacting with Kiran’s parents, her teachers learnt that the family was lucky to get even one full meal in a day. Her parents work at a nearby brick kiln and toil hard to feed their daughter. Kiran often accompanied her parents to work and had got into a habit of eating mud, which was also adversely affecting her health.

 

Because of her weakness, Kiran was less responsive in class and never participated in any activity either. Over the year, her health problems increased and she would often take leave, missing out on her classes. Her teachers realized that the lack of proper nutrition, hygiene and subsequent ill health was impairing Kiran’s attention span and learning abilities, and the damage could be permanent.

 

Kiran’s case is not unique. Malnutrition is more prevalent in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS IV), 38% of all children below the age of five have stymied growth and are too small for their age, 46% are underweight and 16% are emaciated.

 

A critical issue in itself, lack of nutrition, has repercussions in every sphere of child development, as it stunts the physical as well as mental growth of children. Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school, even to regularly attend school. This leads to low confidence levels and eventually drop-outs.

 

Understanding that nutrition and health form an important aspect of a child’s growing up years, and can have a huge impact on her/ his education, Smile Foundation has always included them as integral aspects of the Mission Education programme. Nutritious meals are provided to children every day and health camps are held every quarter to ensure the holistic development of children. This has not only helped in improving the health status of children, but also in improving their learning outcomes over time, and improving attendance and retention in classrooms.

 

To complement the provision of nutrition and health facilities at the centres, awareness generation among the parents and the larger community is also done. Low awareness about the importance of health and nutrition among the socio-economically marginalized communities, like in Kiran’s case, is also a major reason for the vulnerable health condition of children.

 

Busy earning daily wages to help their families survive, most parents never consider health and nutrition to be a priority. While all of them want their children to be educated, healthy and have a bright future, few of them know that bringing basic changes in their eating habits could ensure all this. Never having been to school and having bare minimum knowledge of hygiene practices, they never think that most diseases can be prevented by including the simple act of hand washing in their daily routine.

 

To address this gap, sessions on the importance of health, personal hygiene and nutrition are regularly conducted, along with innovative activities like street plays and songs to engage the people and help them grasp the message easily. Workshops are held for mothers where they are taught about growing their own kitchen garden, nutritious ingredients that are commonly available but ignored, and preparing low cost and no cost nutritious food recipes.

 

 

As an extension of its efforts, Smile Foundation has integrated nutrition awareness in its health and women empowerment programmes, with special focus on mothers, school children and adolescent girls. Catering specifically to their particular needs, awareness sessions, workshops and one-on-one counselling are held on subjects such as nutrition for growth, foods that enhance immunization, combating anaemia, diet for expecting and lactating mothers, and nutrition supplements.

 

Today, India is riding on a promising tide of economic and social development, but this only remains a hollow projection when our children do not have access to even the most basic human needs, like nutrition and education. Our children will lay the foundation for our country’s future, but this might be too heavy a responsibility for their weak shoulders. We must come together to nurture, nourish, educate and empower our children, to help build a healthy, progressive nation.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s work on nutrition visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/plate-half-full/

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In The Spotlight

Averting the learning crisis: Empowering Teachers

Averting the learning crisis: Empowering Teachers

The World Bank, in a 2017 report, warned of a learning crisis across the world. In India, the report said, half the children in grade 5 could not read a text meant for Grade 2 children. The report, among other things, highlighted that teachers lacked necessary skills and motivation. Adding to the World Bank report was the 2018 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which said that as a consequence, the gross enrolment ratio drops from 95 per cent for Grades 1-5 to 79 per cent for Grades 9-10.

 

The New Education Policy (NEP) 2019 too stresses on the vital role played by a teacher in the education process of children and calls for improved training institutions, proper facilities to teachers and appropriate student teacher ratio in the classrooms. The policy notes that, “In addition to access, a major quality related deficiency in the existing early childhood learning programme in the country is the lack of trained and qualified teachers.” 

 

It is clear that the quality of education does not just span curriculum and infrastructure but depends highly upon the quality of teachers as well.

 

 

One of the most brilliant minds of the 21st century and a beloved teacher, our former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has said that “…there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than that of a teacher”. Teachers are the first contact point for children in the formal education process and their importance in the cognitive, mental and physical development of a child cannot be undermined. Besides delivering lessons and imparting knowledge to the children, teachers play a multi-faceted role by setting the tone of their classrooms, building a warm environment, mentoring and nurturing students, becoming role models, and listening and looking for signs of trouble.

 

Integration of technology into teaching-learning, which has been highly accelerated due to the ongoing pandemic, is also a great way of enabling the teachers to transform the classroom into a dynamic and engaging space for the children. Rather than seeing digital education, or learning from the internet, as a replacement of the teacher student relationship, technology should be used to build upon that bond and add value to the traditional pedagogical system. At the same time, technology can help in automating some of the routine processes for the efficient management of the classes so that teachers can focus only on teaching.

 

 

Another issue is shortage of trained and passionate teachers. According to government data, the country lacks teachers to the extent of 10 lakh vacancies in government-run schools. Rural area schools suffer the most from the lack of teachers with many schools running with only one teacher teaching all grades. There is a pressing need to address the issue of teacher shortage by recruiting a cadre of qualified teachers.

 

Education holds the key to skilling, employability, and, in turn, contribution to realisation of faster growth of GDP, but without the right kind of teacher training, India’s learning levels cannot improve. Teacher’s training has by far been one of the most neglected components in education. But the next step after achieving accessibility of education is to achieve quality – and that is not possible without enabling and empowering our teachers.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s education programme visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/education.html

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In The Spotlight

Importance of Education, Nutrition & Sanitation

Importance of Education, Nutrition & Sanitation

The story starts with education.

 

When a little girl is pulled out of school, because her parents cannot afford to send her to school or because she will be more helpful around the house; we are not only taking away the little girl’s freedom of choice for her future life but we are also creating a pool of future generation which might be at risk of being stunted at birth due to lack of proper nutrition, getting affected by an easily preventable disease like polio at an early age and worse still have lower resistance to infections throughout their lives.

 

According to a report by UNICEF, 62% of the total 17.7 million out-of-school children in India are girls and 73% of girls do not get past 10 years of school. When a girl’s education is discontinued, she misses out on important life lessons, lessons which could help save her own life or the life of her child when she comes of age. Lack of education and gender bias not only affects the mental, emotional and physical health of a girl child, they also play a major role in shaping the woman she will become. Women are often responsible for producing and preparing food for the household, so their knowledge about nutrition can affect the health and nutritional status of the entire family.

 

Another study shows that 68% of malnourished children in India are girls. Adequate nutrition is especially critical for women because inadequate nutrition wreaks havoc not only on women’s own health but also on the health of their children.  Nothing much can be expected from an uneducated mother married off at an young age giving birth to a child every year in the want of a son, tainted with the colors of shame by a superstitious society; a mother wanting to give the bigger portions of food to her son; a mother who is not educated enough to decide what food is best for her baby.

 

 

Although malnutrition’s effects on girls have been recognized for decades, there has been little measurable progress in addressing the specific nutritional problems of women and adolescent girls. Most problems like lethargy and depression caused by iron deficiency springing out of malnutrition are dismissed, further aggravating the problem.

 

Iron deficiency and anemia are the most prevalent nutritional deficiencies found in women. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anemia among women is defined as a hemoglobin concentration of <120 g/L for non-pregnant women aged 15 years and above, and a hemoglobin concentration of <110-g/L for pregnant women. As per the National Family Health Survey (2015–2016) 53% of women in India have anemia.  Most women who develop anemia in less developed countries are not consuming enough iron-rich foods or are eating foods that inhibit the absorption of iron. Women are especially susceptible to iron deficiency and anemia during pregnancy. Women with high number of births, short intervals between births and poor access to antenatal care and supplementation are likely to experience poor pregnancy outcome due to anemia. If a mother suffers poor pregnancy due to iron and other deficiencies the baby suffers for the lack of proper nutrition.

 

 

Smile Foundation through its various programmes has prioritized maternal and child health as a focus area, and works towards ensuring safe and healthy motherhood and childhood in socio-economically disadvantaged communities by addressing key factors like awareness, education, healthcare, nutrition and sanitation.

 

Under antenatal and postnatal care, daily supplements to expecting mothers, nutrition plans, medicines, blood tests and counseling for institutional delivery are some of the services provided. To improve health status of mothers, infants and children, healthcare services are brought at the doorstep of communities through mobile health units as well as specialized health camps that provide free diagnosis, counseling, medicines and contraceptives. Networks are established with frontline community workers including ASHA, ANM and AWW to train and guide them for providing better services to expecting and lactating mothers and newborns. Community mobilisers and health counselors establish a bond of care with the women to spread awareness about maternal and neonatal danger signs, breastfeeding, nutrition, and immunisation. These conversations empower girls and women to take charge of their own health and well being.

 

To know more visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/she-can-fly/

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In The Spotlight

Prevention is always better than cure!

Prevention is always better than cure!

It will soon be a year since Covid-19 first hit Wuhan in China and swiftly shook the foundations of the entire world as we knew it. The pandemic has changed many aspects of our life, but one of the most rewarding in terms of achieving long-term healthcare community goals is behavioral change towards personal hygiene and self care.

 

From washing hands regularly and properly, to wearing masks, maintaining a minimum social distance in public places, eating immunity boosting food, avoiding junk and fast food – and overall consciously adopting a healthier way of life, the pandemic has certainly changed our outlook on health and its importance. While our understanding of healthcare was earlier limited only to curative healthcare – seeing healthcare only as a treatment approach when one is sick, now we have also started considering preventive healthcare – how to care for our health so that we do not become sick in the first place, as a significant part of it. In fact if the latter is given due attention, it will significantly reduce the disease burden across the world by controlling the spread of both communicable as well as non-communicable ailments.

 

 

There has been an increased dialogue not just on health forums and media channels, but also in households, workplaces and schools about giving importance to preventive healthcare along with promoting a health seeking bahaviour by spreading awareness among people – making heath a commonplace topic. Particularly in India, this was not the trend before where health and self-care have never been a priority for people. The same is reflected in the fact that less than 2% of our GDP is dedicated towards healthcare programmes. Needless to say, preventive healthcare would have been relegated a much shorter share even from this.

 

Not only does preventive care and awareness building go hand in hand with curative care, preventing illness is also far more cost effective than treating illness. For those living below the poverty line, the out-of-pocket expenditure on health often pushes them further into poverty. Preventive healthcare can thus play a key role in helping improve the health status of the underserved population without the question of affordability which often hinders their accessibility to quality curative healthcare services.

 

 

However, the primary driver of preventive healthcare is awareness building. Unfortunately those without means are also without awareness. Illiteracy, ignorance and lack of knowledge about health and hygiene practices make them even more vulnerable. Especially in a pandemic situation, or during seasonal outbreaks of flu, malaria or dengue, the marginalized populations are most at risk, and least likely to be able to get treatment if afflicted.

 

Smile Foundation’s healthcare programme has always given equal priority to curative and preventive healthcare. While we make relentless efforts to take primary healthcare to the doorsteps of the unreached, we also understand that preventive healthcare and behavioural change will go a long way in sustaining the impact of our initiatives at the grassroots. Hence, awareness building programmes, community mobilisation and actively involving the community in our projects is an essential part of our healthcare programme.

 

To know more, please visit: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/smile_on_wheels.html

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From The People, For The People

The art of Mastering Penmanship

The art of Mastering Penmanship

The pandemic may have forced children to start online classes and majorly replace their pens with keyboards, yet parents have expressed concerns that more than anything, handwriting & the ability to write effectively has been the casualty in all this process. Children have got so used to tapping keys and clicking a mouse, that they have completely neglected focusing on their formation of letters, legibility and speed of writing. So the Child for Child team decided to put together a webinar for children on Mastering Penmanship.

 

Mastering Penmanship is not just about improving handwriting, it is according to the trainer, beyond hand & writing. It is about revisiting one’s style of holding the pen, sitting at a study table, holding the notebook, writing with an angle and of course building the muscle in fingers to be able to write better & faster.

 

The session has some very interesting takeaways spread over multiple sessions of over an hour & a half. Some of them being:

  • Understanding and Evaluating The 5 Elements TO A Scientific Handwriting
  • How to choose the Right Pen especially for long writing hours
  • Ergonomics of Writing – The Scientific Positioning of Pen, Body & Paper
  • Finger Flexion Exercises – developing hand-mind coordination through handwriting
  • Hand Yoga  – improving muscle strength

 

Mr. Imran through the sessions keeps the children engaged with hand exercises, finger flexion activities and hand yoga before the beginning of any session. He then guides them through letter writing, cursive writing, crossing the ‘t’s and dotting the ‘i’s.

 

When children are timed for their speed & their ability to copy and write followed by their ability to listen & write, is when most of the children realised where their flaws arose from.

 

Over subsequent sessions that we have conducted with the help of handwriting Institute of India, students were guided through written assessments, handwriting evaluations and speed writing. They were explained differences between ‘writing while reading – copying’ & ‘writing while listening – dictation’.

 

There were moments where children seemed to slack off, & this was followed by an immediate reprimand from Imran Sir. While children may not be sitting in front of the trainer physically but with their videos on, they were monitored very strictly at every step of the way during the training sessions. Eventually it resulted in class that was alert and galvanized towards achieving the takeaways set before the commencement of the session.

 

All in all students not only learnt a completely new way of writing but also had a huge amount of fun. The hope is that they continue to practice and keep working on their penmanship. The next level of penmanship would be when they effectively use the skills acquired to think articulately, space their thoughts intelligently and put it all in writing in a wonderful way.

 

 

These sessions are organized for students across different schools from different cities as a part of Child for Child program’s Value Shop initiative. The aim is to reach out to children with activities that not only keep them busy during lockdown of schools but also keep them positively engaged. We believe that if children are engaged productively & effectively it will play a positive role in their mental wellbeing. The pandemic has left everyone in a quandary over the fate of schools & that of children who are unable to go to schools. Schools play a huge role in holistic development of children not only in academic fields but also hugely in non-academic persuasions. The duration of the time that schools have remained closed has wreaked havoc with the lifestyles of children who were used to a regimented life in school & out of it. Physical & mental wellbeing has taken a hard hit, and this was where CFC program stepped in with their value shop initiatives to keep children positively occupied with creative, intellectual and fun mobilizations.

 

To know more about CFC visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/childforchild.html

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Insights

Reinventing fundraising for Indian grassroots organizations

Reinventing fundraising for Indian grassroots organizations

Excerpts from Almuite Heider interview of Swatantra Gupta, Head, Corporate Partnerships & Alliances, Smile Foundation, published in the German magazine Misereor. Swatantra talks about Smile’s fundraising journey – from raising resources for its own initiatives, to helping smaller community based grassroots organizations source funds locally, and now leading the Asia chapter of the international capacity building initiative Change the Game Academy.

 

How and when did Smile come up with the idea of dealing with fundraising?

 

Smile was founded in 2002 with the support of some business people who wanted to do something good for society. Initially, they supported Smile’s work in the education and health sector with their own funds. But then they realised that the means to maintain a non-governmental organisation (NGO) must not depend on just a few people. That is why Smile started to look for donations in 2005, at first especially from companies. From 2010 onwards, an entire fundraising department was set up.

 

What inspires you in fundraising?

 

I myself like public appearances and I like to share ideas that inspire people. I spent some time working in marketing for a company. When I moved into the nonprofit sector, I still wanted to share the ideas and activities of my organization, this time with potential donors. I wanted to show them what the benefits of their donation can be; not for themselves but for society. Many in the development sector are enthusiastic and committed, and do really excellent work. But the big challenge is: how do they get money to make this commitment happen?

 

What is your motivation to support fundraising by other organizations?

 

Smile supports small NGOs which are very committed and responsible, but which still lack knowledge in some areas. If people are passionate and do good work in the social sector – for which there is a lot of need in India – but do not get enough money for it, nothing will happen. That is why Smile supports such community based grassroots NGOs in the area of fundraising. Today, we have a network of more than 250 grassroots organisations.

 

How do the training courses with the international platform Change the Game Academy method work?

 

There are ten online modules in total. These can be worked on individually and at the end you have completed the training. We wanted a maximum number of NGOs to benefit from the Change the Game Academy and we knew that we would only reach a fraction of the organisations with face-to-face courses.

 

But more efficient is a mixture of online and face-to-face learning. In the face-to-face workshops we also spend about a quarter of the time working on the computer with the contents of the online modules. We use the sequences whose contents actually need to be discussed, for example, the profiling of potential donors. This requires brainstorming, suggestions from others and discussions. So the participants can fall back on something if they want to look something up at home.

 

Virtual learning is in great demand right now – are there any disadvantages or obstacles?

 

In the cities, access to the Internet is not a problem, but in remote rural areas it can be a problem. But the real obstacles lie elsewhere. So far we have interviewed 300 people who have taken the course online. But although the course is good – the content is really fantastic – it is a challenge when someone does the whole course online. It’s just hard to assimilate new content just for yourself in front of the computer.

 

 

How do face-to-face workshops promote the development and implementation of fundraising ideas? How does a feeling for whether an idea is good or not develop?

 

Participants’ expectations are very high, many think that something will change immediately after the course. But fundraising needs a lot of preparation and practice. The trainers are therefore not only knowledge mediators, but also supporters and mentors. During the courses and for three months afterwards, the participants are instructed, because different fundraising strategies work everywhere. There are more opportunities in the big cities, but those who work in rural areas have to make more effort to develop ideas. A good coach recognizes this and makes sure that the organizations develop the right ideas. However, no one knows a magic spell for success. Participants are more likely to learn about the potential of their organisations, their community or their neighbourhood. Exchange with other NGOs is also important.

 

Has there ever been an idea whose success has surprised you?

 

Last year, a small organization from the state of West Bengal that works with educational programs for children organized a small film festival after the course. We never thought that such a small organization could put together a film festival, because it requires a lot of organization and communication. They invested about 320 euros and raised about 1,900 euros through entrance fees and sales of snacks. And that was their first attempt! For them the income wasn’t even that important, the most important thing was the creative implementation of the idea.

 

How do these organisations work in the Corona crisis now?

 

The grassroots organisations we are in contact with are all involved in emergency aid, because so many families need food at the moment. Many of the organizations that have done fundraising training with us have also been able to raise funds, often from companies. This is good because what has been learned is being applied. But of course all the income is too little, given the scale of the need. However still: solidarity is a positive aspect of this crisis.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s Empowering Grassroots initiative visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/empowering-grassroots.html

 

To know more about Change the Game Academy visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/CHANGE-THE-GAME/

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Insights

Hidden hunger prevents India from reaping its demographic dividend

Hidden hunger prevents India from reaping its demographic dividend

While India has a huge advantage in the form of its youth population being more than half of the entire population, we are far from reaping the benefits of this demographic dividend. Along with education, awareness, skill training and employment, a huge, often ignored factor that hinders the country from utilizing the potential of a young population is the prevalence of “hidden hunger” among India’s adolescents.

 

Hidden hunger is a deficiency of one or more micronutrients such as iron, folate, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and vitamin D. It is estimated that more than two billion people suffer from hidden hunger globally. Despite being highlighted as one the most cost-effective investments for human development, progress on addressing micronutrient deficiencies has been slowing. These deficiencies are the result of a combination of a monotonous cereal-dominated diet lacking in diversity, and overall insufficient food intake.

 

In India, over 80 per cent adolescents suffer from hidden hunger, according to UNICEF’s 2019 report   ‘Adolescents, Diets and Nutrition: Growing Well in a Changing World’. Such deficiencies during a young age can lead to a range of severe implications including increased mortality, morbidity, physical, and mental defects. It is in concurrence that India has one of the highest rates of childhood stunting and wasting in the world, occurring in approximately one-third of all children.

 

The report also observed that with growing incomes and increased spending on food, Indians were moving away from traditional diets to a dietary lifestyle majorly consisting of processed and fast-foods which are high on calories and low in micro-nutrients. This trend is particularly visible in India’s youth population. As such, the country faces a triple threat: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity.

 

There is a higher incident of adolescent girls suffering from micronutrient deficiency in comparison to boys of the same age. This is doubled up by the fact that anaemia affects 40 per cent of adolescent girls in India compared to 18 per cent of boys, and the trend continues as they get older. This in turn has an adverse effect on their health when they bear children, and the children too are more likely to be undernourished. This vicious cycle leads to yet another generation bearing the burden of hidden hunger in the country.

 

 

To ensure the country’s health and progress, there is an urgent need to address the issue of hidden hunger through a combination of intervention strategies. These include dietary diversification of micronutrient-rich produce (including fruits and vegetables, pulses, and animal-based products), fortification of commercial foods, bio-fortification of agricultural produce, supplementation and behavioral change.

 

As per the Sustainable Development Goals, India is committed to end all forms of hunger by 2030. However, like for most other development parameters, for hidden hunger too, the progress has been impeded because of the current pandemic. That said, despite the pandemic, such crucial issues have to reprioritized as they affect not just our present, but also leave an indelible mark on our future as a nation.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s intervention on tackling the problem of nutrition visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/plate-half-full/

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In The Spotlight

Importance of handwashing goes beyond the pandemic.

Importance of handwashing goes beyond the pandemic.

Every year 15th of October is celebrated as Global Handwashing Day. This global advocacy day is observed to sensitise people around the world and raise awareness about the fact that handwashing is the first step to keep diseases at bay and help save lives.

 

In the present times of the pandemic Covid-19, handwashing has become more important than ever. Using of soap for proper handwashing is the most basic and simple way of stopping the spread of this contagious disease. This year’s theme is Hand Hygiene for All is a step towards encouraging all sections of the society to adopt this simple habit to keep oneself safe.

 

Smile Foundation’s health vertical, Smile on Wheels which has been serving people across the country by providing basic healthcare facilities has worked towards sensitising people from the rural areas and urban slums to adopt this habit and stay healthy. Demonstrations of proper handwashing steps, educating people about the importance of using soaps, washing hands before and after food, using of sanitisers constitute the daily routine of IEC activities conducted by these healthcare workers.

 

 

One of the most important aspects of raising awareness is to reach out to new and expecting mothers as they are the first point of contact for any child. In picture is a young mother from Eklingpura, Rajasthan. Healthcare workers reached out to young mothers like her to demonstrate the steps of proper handwashing to keep herself and her baby safe from diseases.

 

 

It is important to inculcate the habit of handwashing in children. It is the best way to keep them from falling sick by stopping the spread of germs. In picture are children washing hands with soap before attending the cluster learning session at Koucha AFC centre of Smile Foundation at Koucha village in Burdwan.

 

 

In urban slums and rural areas healthcare workers from Smile on Wheels conduct sessions to encourage the communities to follow proper handwashing steps to improve their health status, reduce the chances of infections through unclean hand usage.

 

In many parts of the world and also in India the extent of desirable practices regarding hand washing is still lacking and needs to be emphasized hence it makes the observation of Global Handwashing Day all the more important. Let us pledge to adopt the policy of each one teach one and encourage and educate about handwashing to keep ourselves and the community safe.

 

To know more about Smile Foundation’s healthcare interventions visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/health-cannot-wait/

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In The Spotlight

Nutrition & Health: Key Steps between Beti Bachaao & Beti Padhao

Nutrition & Health: Key Steps between Beti Bachaao & Beti Padhao

Smile Foundation’s Sampoorna project for nutrition and health in collaboration with PepsiCo Foundation connected the dots by focusing on reduction of anaemia through healthy eating among 1000 adolescent girls in Banaskantha, Gujarat

 

Over the past decade, gender equality has been recognized as key not only to the health of nations, but also to their social and economic development. Unfortunately in our country, gender equality still remains a far-fetched goal as a major portion of our population; verily the half of humanity – the female sex, continues to be denied not just their rights and an equal status, but even the chance to survive and better nutrition and health.

 

Even though the Government has taken some commendable steps to address the problems of female foeticide and infanticide, early marriage and high drop-out ratios of girl children through its Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative, one key factor that could form the link between saving the girl child and educating her has still not received much attention, i.e. nourishing the girl child through proper nutrition.

 

It is an accepted fact that nutrition and health from an early stage directly impact the growth, learning abilities and outcomes as well as in the future employability opportunities and other important factors in a person’s life. Particularly in case of girl children this becomes even more important as they are the forbearers of the next generation – healthy girls will grow into healthy mothers and give birth to healthier babies.

 

 

But just like everything else, equal access to nutrition and health is also a tough fight for most girls. Deep rooted gender bias in our society is one of the reasons for this – in the same family, you would find the male child being over-fed and pampered with food, and the female child being given only half of what her actual nutrition requirement is. While this is prevalent in both privileged and underprivileged sections of society, in the latter lack of education and awareness, along with poverty, also sometimes add to the stigma of underfed and undernourished girl children.

 

We only need to look at the prevalence of anaemia among women and girls in the country – one of the biggest markers of under-nutrition, to see how lack of nutrition has adversely impacted the health, and many other factors indirectly such as education, employment and the health of their children. As per the Global Nutrition Report by the World Health Assembly, in India, more than half (51%) of all women aged 15-49 years are anaemic.

 

 As a small effort to bridge this gap, Smile Foundation, in collaboration with PepsiCo Foundation, had initiated the “Sampoorna” Project in rural Rajasthan. Focusing on adolescent girls, the project targeted 1000 girl children from 10 villages of the Banaskantha district, with the objective of improving their nutritional status, reducing the prevalence of anaemia, and enhancing education and employability opportunities to sustain a health-seeking behavior. 

 

 

At the start of the project, Smile Foundation conducted a base study to assess the on-ground situation. The study revealed that malnutrition and the various diseases associated with it are a major contributing factor behind girls dropping out of school thus affecting the literacy rates. The study, assessing the nutritional status of adolescent girls (13 to 19 years) in the region, brought to light that 78% of adolescent girls are anaemic (varying from mild to severe), with 50% girls being moderately anaemic and about 13% being severely anaemic. 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 anaemia or ever having checked their anaemic status.

 

 

Sensitization being an important part of the project, a host of awareness activities were conducted, like the formation of Kishori Clubs which provided a safe space for the girls to meet every month for joyful learning and promoting regular consumption of nutritious food, weekly intake of IFA tablets and maintaining healthy habits including exercise.

 

To make the meetings more inviting, hygienically prepared healthy dry snacks made from locally available ingredients were introduced. Village level mega-cookery events that create a district and state level visibility around importance of nutrition for girls between the age group of 13 to 19 years were held. Knowledge building of the girls through social behavioral change communication (SBCC), life-skill education as well as vocational skill development based on local livelihood opportunities for the targeted adolescent girls was also an important aspect of the project.

 

Through all these need-based interventions, we got a favourable outcome in the community. After project completion, there was an increase in knowledge level of girls. There was a positive deviance in level of anaemia as well as BMI as majority of girls moved from underweight to normal.

 

To know more visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/nutrition-project-banaskantha.html

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