In June 2008, we initiated the Infant Nutrition Program for children ages 6 months to 5 years old. This was a direct intervention project for when the cases of undernourished young children in a given community were severe.
The program has since expanded, and by January 2022, a total of 1,673 children have been through our six-month Infant Nutrition Program.
While the children are in the intervention program, their parents are taught about nutritious food and how to cook healthy meals for their children.
We are now helping 217 infants in six different communities by providing a high-protein meal at each visit that is cooked by the parents of the children enrolled, and a week’s supply of milk/formula, vitamins, and eggs for each child in the program. We track their weight gain and growth progress, measuring it against the World Health Organization’s standards for undernourishment.
The goal of this program is not only to see infants develop and grow under healthy conditions but to also educate the parents of the children. We teach parents about their growing children’s health needs, and we equip them with tools to provide better diets to all members of their families.
