Maria and Pankaj
The Importance of a Whole Health Approach: malnutrition and psychosocial neglect
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Tags: India, malnutrition clinic, malnutrition crisis in india, malnutrition in india, nrc in india, rmf in india
By Jaimie Shaff
Program Manager: Health and Nutrition
This past Tuesday marked my 14th day in India, aka my deadline for registration with the government of India. Since landing in this beautiful country, I have hit the ground running. The programs developed and implemented by RMF-India are absolutely incredible. Despite the fact that I was here evaluating the malnutrition program in January, I was certainly unprepared for how much the programs have expanded. The community has become more familiar with the faces of Caitlin, Michael, Fabian, and the rest of the field-staff, and the programs are developing with a strong focus on community.
With some slight confusion, train travel, and broken Hindi, I finally registered with the government powers that be this morning. My handwritten FRO note is in my passport, and I’m about 60% sure that I’ll be able to leave the country in December without any major hurdles.
In my short time here, I have met with many of the major organizations contributing towards humanitarian and developmental efforts in under-nutrition and HIV/AIDS in India. RMF is well received and respected by large organizations, as the only International NGO working directly with the Bhil tribal population in MP. I look forward to becoming more familiar with our programs, working to increase our efficacy and community-based sustainability, and creating technical/operating partnerships with other actors in this field.
Tags: Bhil population, HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS in India, India, jaimie shaff, madhya pradesh, malnutrition in india
Very good article published in Sunday’s New York Times about the malnutrition and food crisis in India. This focuses specifically on the crisis in Jhabua and Madhya Pradesh where our Malnutrition Initiative and Team India are based.
Link to New York Times article here.
There’s even a photo featured in the article of the treatment center (NRC) that we support in partnership with the Jeevan Jyoti Hospital. Photo here.
Tags: children in india, donate to india, food crisis in india, India, Jhabua, malnutrition clinic, malnutrition crisis india, malnutrition in india, new york times
By Sharon Levy
This May I had the privilege of volunteering as a Registered Nurse for the Real Medicine Foundation’s Malnutrition Eradication program in Jhabua, India. Jhabua is located in Madhya Pradesh, one of the poorest states in the sub-continent. 60 per cent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished in Madhya Pradesh. RMF’s program targets this age group to be assessed for severity of malnutrition, need for inpatient treatment, and family education to decrease the incidence of malnutrition.
Working with Michael Matheke- Fisher, RMF’s Regional Programs Coordinator in South Asia, Caitlin McQuiling, Director of Programs for RMF in India, and Community Nutrition Educators, (local women hired and trained by 
RMF) I went on several follow up home visits to see children who had been recently treated at one of RMF’s Nutrition Rehab Clinics (NRC) The NRC provides 14-21 days of medically monitored feedings of micronutrient rich food for children with severe acute malnutrition. In addition to weight gain, other ailments such as respiratory illnesses, infections, and diarrhea are treated as well. A pediatrician and a specially trained group of nurses follow each patient. While there the family member who stays with the child, usually the mother, is given education about helpful ways to add protein and calories to the child’s food as well as clean food handling practices.
Tags: children in india, India, Jhabua, malnutrition, Related Links
Real Medicine India is proud to introduce its newest staff member, Jaimie Shaff, as the team’s Program Manager for Health and Nutrition. Jaimie recently completed her Master of Public Administration for International Public and Non-Profit Management and Policy Analysis at New York University.
While Jaimie is new to the RMF team, she’s not new to our programs. For the past year Jaimie has been a part of the 4 person “Capstone” team, assigned to help RMF’s “Eradicate Malnutrition” program through NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service’s Capstone program. Jaimie and her colleagues spent two semesters helping RMF analyze the program, providing valuable inputs for program development, including helping us finalize baseline surveys and conducting an important pre-program gap analysis.
While visiting us in Jhabua in January, Jaimie and the Capstone team conducted surveys on the healthcare access and nutrition information in many of the villages that became part of our intervention. In addition to the actual report, Jaimie and her team’s information gathering process was extremely helpful for our team on the ground for targeting our intervention and connecting our Community Nutrition Educators with local health workers. Furthermore, Jaimie and her team’s identification of gaps in systems in Jhabua helped us gain a better understanding of some of the causes of malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh.
Tags: India, jaimie shaff, Madhhya Pradesh, malnutrition, new team member, NYU Capstone Program, NYU Wagner School of Public Service
We’d like to give thanks to Carly Shankman for holding a succesful fundraiser in San Diego for the Malnutrition Inititiative in India. Here is the blog she’s written about the fundraiser and her upcoming volunteer trip to India with RMF
By Guest Blogger, Carly Shankman
I was introduced to the Real Medicine Foundation through Michael Matheke (RMF India Programs Coordinator) about 4 months ago. It was at that time I decided to leave my life in San Diego and take the journey of a lifetime backpacking through India. Even greater than my desire to travel and learn for my own personal growth, I wanted to contribute to the people and communities of India. My passion in life is to see, do, explore, meet, live, love, appreciate and experience everything I come across on my journey. I believe in contributing to the greater good of the world and leaving the world a better place than when I arrived. RMF provided the platform for me to do this. After reviewing the website I immediately resonated with the malnutrition eradication program and the work they are doing with children.
I spoke with Michael and expressed my desire to volunteer on-site. After the plans were set for me to stay onsite with RMF I started to brainstorm fundraising ideas to make a monetary donation prior to my arrival. Since I am traveling with 3 other girls to India, Bri, Kayla, and Laura, I wanted to do something we could all work on together. We ran the idea of having a car wash at the restaurant with our GM, James Stephenson, and he was completely on board. He even allowed us to advertise the event to all our customers that came in.
The car wash was held on Saturday, July 10th and it was a complete success! We were a little concerned because the carwash was being held on the 4th day San Diego had been really overcast and cloudy and thought it might deter people from coming. Right after we were done setting up the sun came out and the cars started lining up. We had a steady flow of 3-4 cars at a time all day long and all our friends stopped by with cars to clean, snacks to share and the DJ kept the music jamming all day. There were approximately 15 volunteers helping to wash cars and collect donations and nearly 50 people stopped by to support us. The event went perfectly and thanks to LJ Strip Club, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Vons, Einstein’s Bagels, Trader Joe’s and all the amazing volunteers that came out, we raised $750 for RMF!
Tags: children, fundraising, India, malnutrition, san diego, volunteering
RMF is proud to announce that the Capstone team from the NYU Robert Wagner School of Public Service has successfully completed their collaboration on the Malnutrition Initiative in Madhya Pradesh. The Capstone team was engaged to assist RMF identify opportunities for eradicating malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh, while providing additional tools and information to assess program effectiveness. The objective of this report is to serve as an evaluative tool for RMF in regards to the “Eradicate Malnutrition” Program, from the perspective of the New York University Capstone team.
In April 2009, the Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) launched the “Eradicate Malnutrition” program in Madhya Pradesh, India in response to the high rates of malnutrition in the region. With the malnutrition rate in children under the age of five at 60 percent, Madhya Pradesh represents the largest burden of malnutrition for the country. At the onset of Real Medicine’s initiative, the RMF program directors identified the resource constraints with evaluating the project work and with consolidating ideas for future program expansion. Based on the field assessment and research of best practices in the treatment of child malnutrition, the Capstone team has provided key recommendations to RMF to enhance the identification, treatment and prevention of malnutrition.
The Capstone team was comprised of four graduate students from NYU: Jenny Hsieh, Hyein Lee, Eyiwunmi Salako, and Jaimie Shaff; with each team member bringing unique experience to the project. The project started in September 2009, and continued until May 2010. The following 95 page report summarizes the Capstone team’s findings, and identifies next steps for RMF to consider.
Two weeks ago the children we admitted we listless and dull-eyed. Many were so dehydrated that when they cried there were no tears; the children were often too weak to make much noise at all. Now as I write this I’m sitting in the middle of recovery – and its very loud. After two weeks of therapeutic milk, micro-nutrients, and medicines, the children have gained weight and found new energy. Two year old’s who have never walked are teetering on the edge of chairs, about to take off. Toys no one touched are now being fought over. They have the energy to fight! And to cry! It’s absolutely magical to see how two weeks of good medicine and therapy can transform a child – it’s brought their spirit back. The energy of this chaotic room is tangible. So tangible that I have quite the headache.
The mothers too are now at ease and starting to enjoy this process. These women who have so much housework at home on their farms and with their multiple children now have the time to sit and bond and play with their children and get to know other mothers. They’re all hanging out in our breezy, cheerful recreation room, spending time together while the kids play, and taking turns learning how to cook nutritious meals for each other. They’re asking questions, getting more and more involved in group discussions and jumping in to counsel the parents of new patients about the importance of staying at the NRC for the full course of treatment.
By focusing on one child at a time, our Malnutrition Eradication team in Mahaya Pradesh India, has been able to move forward in spite of the staggering figures stacked against them–100% malnutrition rates and 1.2 million children at risk–and has grown from 200 patients to 100o’s to become the largest active feild presence in the country in only 9 months, reaching 500 villages and 100,000 families.
When Shukla announced her own dream to teach children from the slums of Bangalore India she was hit with a huge resistance from those around her–how was she, one woman, going to make a dent?
As if taken directly from Real Medicine’s core principles, Shukla takes the RMF approach of One Child at a Time and it is in this way that she was able to not move forward undaunted in spite of the scale against her.
Tags: Bangalore, Madhaya Pradesh, malnutrition, Shukla Bose, TED talk, Ted.com
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