New Mother & Child Health & Nutrition project launched in Nandurbar, Maharashtra

8th September, 2023

Nandurbar is one of the top 10 high burden areas of Maharashtra where over 46% children under the age of 5 years suffer from stunting. This is higher than the state average of about 35%.

Almost 58% children under the age of 5 years here are underweight and yet, less more than 90% of children under age 2 years do not have access to an adequate diet.

Nandurbar is a tribal district located over 400 km away from Mumbai. The area is densely forested and hilly and has reduced access to development due to lack of adequate roads and transportation.

A new initiative

In collaboration with Project Rise , the Dawoodi Bohra community’s global philanthropic arm, the Nandurbar district authorities and Integrated child development Services (ICDS), we together launched a ‘Mother and Child Health and Nutrition Program’ in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra to support over 600 beneficiaries for the next 3 years.

The comprehensive program will provide micronutrient-fortified, energy-dense food to malnourished children below six years and pregnant and lactating mothers across 10 Anganwadi centres in Shahada taluka of Nandurbar district.

As part of the project, field counsellors from Team ANNADA It will also educate pregnant and lactating mothers on breastfeeding and monitoring their health to mitigate physical and cognitive growth in children. The ground team will be conducting regular home counselling sessions and workshops in the community to create awareness on good nutrition practices and health seeing behaviours.

Thanking the Dawoodi Bohra community & ANNADA for initiating the program, Mr. Krishna Rathod, the Deputy CEO (Women and Child Development), Nandurbar Zilla Parishad said, “A health and nutrition initiative like this will go a long way in making a difference in the lives of undernourished children and achieving a hunger-free and healthy nation.

In his address at the launch event, Kutubkhan Badri, representative of His Holiness in the nearby town of Shahada said, “Our community leader His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin guides us to show empathy and compassion, and look after the well-being of people, particularly those in need.”

Alvin D'souza, Program Head at ANNADA, said, "Child undernutrition can lead to severe developmental issues, diseases, infections and even death. It is at the root of all the social problems and severely impacts national socio-economic development. Our program will use simple, community-relevant, ready-to-eat meals that provide almost 1/3rd of a child's recommended dietary requirement of micronutrients. Most of these meals are millet-based and rich in protein. We are glad to have partnered with the Dawoodi Bohra community to be able to impact the lives of children in Nandurbar.”

The program launch was followed by Safe food handler training program for anganwadi sevikas who will be playing a key role in the project implementation.

About Project Rise

Established in 2018, Project Rise is the Dawoodi Bohra community’s social welfare endeavour working in partnership with local community volunteers and government bodies to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, provide access to education, address water insecurity issues, raise health and hygiene levels among children & families, and preserve and protect the environment.

About ANNADA

ANNADA is a section 8 not-for-profit organisation with a vision to realise a Hunger-free and nourished India. ANNADA has provided over 16 million safe, hygienic, micronutrient-fortified meals while supporting more than 1.6 lakh beneficiaries, reducing malnutrition cases by 50-60% across various interventions implemented in rural tribal areas.

Over the last 7 years ANNADA has implemented projects in various remote & rural locations supported by #CSR partners. Write to us on [email protected] or call 9167210710 to learn how we can implement a mother and child health & nutrition project in your impact zone.

#SDG2 #SDG3 #childmalnutrition #ESG #children #hunger

Deepak Soni Alvin D'Souza Murtaza Sadriwala Rtn.Rahesh Donny Sonali Gupta Siddhant Ahuja Tincy George Arvind Giri Bendre Vikas Jayant Khanzode Rohit Saroj Siddhartha Iyer Sweety Machado Satyen Melwani Siddharth Pujari Chaitanya Pathak Vrushabha Gore Shweta Hadge Sumit Chauhan