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About Us •
Make a Difference •
World Projects •
Newsletter •
Brochure
Issue No. 3, 2011
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Saving Lives in Nigeria
Nutrition education involved training community healthcare providers and
volunteers on essential nutrition actions by the University of Ibadan in
Nigeria. (2009 Small Grant) These actions were carried out in 4 communities
and about 5,000 people were reached.
The project was divided into 3 phases. First a survey was done involving 339
mother/child pairs. Then the nutrition education phase which used innovative
methods such as drama, focused group discussions, audio-visuals, and posters
such as the one above. The 3rd phase was a monitor of growth.
Education focused on teaching pregnant and lactating mothers exclusive
breastfeeding, immunization, micronutrient supplement availability and
sources, hygienic environment and the provision of care for their children,
using community drama, focused group discussions and audio visuals in their
local dialects.
They also provided skills training for 50 women for income generation to
overcome poverty. We are pleased with this very fine report and the
accomplishments.
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Saving Lives in West Bengal
With a 2009 Humanitarian grant, Chapra Social and Economic Welfare
Association in India is working to lower the infant mortality rates from 53%
to 20% by motivating pregnant and lactating mothers to practice good health habits.
Thus far they have held group discussions with 292 young mothers. And 94
young women from the community have been encouraging pregnant women to register at health centers.
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From Pond to Sea
Everyone of us, if we encountered a child drowning in a pond, would do
everything possible to save the child. Most of you who read this newsletter
have already saved many children who were “drowning in the sea,”
metaphorically speaking. You didn’t even see them.
Yet there are still children drowning. According to UNICEF, 21,000 children
die every day from preventable causes. Child Health Foundation is, with your
help, working to change that number and to improve the health of those who survive.
We welcome your dollars to help us help them. Use the envelope included with
this newsletter or make your donation on line on our website.
Thank you.
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Saving Lives Everywhere
This is to introduce the HealthPhone™, an innovative instrument designed to
provide families with their own personal reference library and guide to
better health practices, using their mobile phones. HealthPhone™, designed by
one of our Board Directors, Nand Wadhwani, won the most promising mBillionth
Award of 2011.
Please go to our website
and see the exciting information that is sure to save many children’s lives
as it becomes better known around the world.
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Saving Lives in Madagascar
Our 2010 Small Grant project there, carried on by Opportunity Solutions
International, is developing innovative ways to distribute and ensure the
use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria.
They have been able to train a staff of surveyors and identify a region in
the rainforest which is underserved. But the project has been delayed
because they are developing a new technology to monitor the use of nets. Stay tuned.
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Saving Lives in Orissa
They call them ASHAs, that is, accredited health activists. Because
prescribing Zinc supplementation significantly reduces the duration and
severity of diarrheal illness, AHSAs are being trained by the Paribartan
organization (India) in its use. This with the help of a 2009 Small Grant.
Twenty villages with a population of about 5,000 were targeted. Seventy-five
AHSAs and 60 Community Health Workers were trained, during a 5-day program,
to counsel mothers to begin oral rehydration therapy on onset of diarrhea
and continue breastfeeding, and to provide a 2-week supply of zinc
supplementation. They were also instructed to inform them about the signs
for seeking emergency care immediately.
This is, of course, a success story we like to hear about because it
continues to save children’s lives long after the program ends.
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Saving Lives in Nicaragua
Tasca of North Carolina, investigated fecal contamination by detection of
bacteria producing H2S in rural water supplies in Nicaragua. Working with
the Nicaragua government, they, with a simple, innovative field-test kit,
have trained hygienists in their use and then distributed them to two areas
of the country. This action has the potential to improve the health of a
population of about 460,000.
This kit was designed to make the need for a laboratory unnecessary by using
sterile plastic bags for the samples rather than glass bottles.
When contamination of the water was found, the hygienists returned to find
and implement solutions, perhaps chlorination or recommending the boiling of
the household water.
Dr. Harvey, investigator of the project, says, “I was very pleased to hear
that in communities where the tests had shown fecal contamination, the
people had responded willingly to the recommendations and there were
documented instances of improvement in water quality.
TASCA is committed to supporting the testing for an indefinite period with
supplies and follow-up training.
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Emergency Relief
This year our emergency assistance went to Somalia and other countries in
the horn of Africa, where the people (about a million) are suffering a
horrendous famine, then complicated with an epidemic of cholera. A call for
donations reaped $1260 which bought 6 cases of CeraORS, then matched
case-for-case by Cera Products Inc. Direct Relief made the delivery.
Oral rehydration solution is the lifesaving product in an epidemic of
diarrhea, preventing the dehydration which is lethal to more than half of
the sufferers. Most of those affected are children.
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Monica Ashok, a senior student at the
University of Maryland, served as an intern during the summer months,
helping with many office duties and becoming familiar with the activities of
the Foundation. She plans to go to medical school and wanted to learn about
public policy and global health. Monica was a welcomed addition and plans to
return.
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Saving Lives in Dominican Republic
Undertaken by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (2009
Humanitarian grant), an undertaking, called the Outreach Project, to build a
bathroom and a septic system to improve sanitation for an orphanage housing
Haitian refugee children has been completed.
Because the flow of refugees from Haiti, still trying to recover from the
earthquake and cholera epidemic, has been considered a threat to the
Dominican Republic, the government has been deporting Haitians. This has
caused the Outreach Project to go undercover.
Yet they have been able to gather additional support for constructing a
kitchen and more dormitory space. They say the bathroom construction had the
effect of encouraging this support. We are pleased to have had a part in
this endeavour.
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Saving Lives in Mali
Work in Mali was conducted by the Mali Health Organizing Project. They
called it Action For Health and is designed to help the community help
themselves. The program was aimed holding workshops to teach mothers to make
enriched porridge using locally available and inexpensive ingredients, and
then those mothers would lead workshops with neighbours. When an increase in
waterborne disease was linked to illegal trash dumping in the stream, Mali
Health helped rally community members to remove the waste and impose a fine
for future dumping.
Other action involves teaching the importance of vaccinations and bed nets
using unique educational tools shown in this picture. So far the program has
reached 800 children and continues.
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Download this issue in pdf format
10630 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 126, Columbia, Maryland 21044 U.S.
Phone (410) 992-5512 • Fax (410) 992-5641 • e-mail:
contact@childhealthfoundation.org
childhealthfoundation.org
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