FOOD AND NUTRITION PROGRAM

The Food and Nutrition Program is designed to link the government's Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Asha-Kiran Shelters Foundation, as the ICDS does not cover the dwellers of the area where we work. Thus, our project plays an important role in supporting ICDS strategies by reaching beneficiaries more effectively and providing inputs to parents for their children to develop emotionally, physically and socially.

The objectives behind this activity are as follows: creating nutrition awareness among the people, particularly women and adolescent girls; providing information about achieving adequate nutrition within available means; explaining the importance of non-food factors like hygiene, sanitation, safe drinking water etc., and giving information about existing health, nutrition and welfare services for their best utilization.

Approximately 20 mothers attend the monthly meetings of the Food and Nutrition Program. The activities in each session include showing how to prepare low-cost and nutritious recipes with available foodstuffs, discussing the importance of growth, monitoring and child nutrition, using the new WHO Growth Standards, and organizing of mini exhibitions at the district level, nutritional quiz competitions, a nutrition rally, puppet shows, street plays, etc.

The activity revolves around the following topics:

. The functional significance of malnutrition
. Basic facts about food, nutrition, and improving diet at a low cost
. Nutritional needs of different age groups
. Nutrition of pregnant women and nursing mothers
. Promotion of breast feeding
. Infant feeding
. Preparation of instant infant foods ans supplementary foods
. Nutrition of pre-schoolers, school children and adolescents
. Home treatments for diarrohoea
. The importance of immunizations
. Principles of hygiene and sanitation