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By Edith Manoj Gonzalez

Madhya Pradesh, India March 19,

In the midst of a Jhabua sunset, Madhya Pradesh has a beauty that is recognized from a distance. Its people smile at foreigners with great curiosity and the children greet with innocence and joy. Almost instantaneously, a person can recognize the beauty of central India and realize that things run a bit differently. Perhaps my jaded New York mindset has gotten the best of me, but despite the binary customs between the East and West it is vital to embrace the multiplicity of Indian perspectives and traditions.

Conducting a field-assessment with RMF staff

Needless to say, that during my brief experience in the field with RMF, I have witnessed only some of the challenges that comes with working with a marginalized population (on an international level). During one specific field visit, the team located Vijay, a child with a fragile body and timid face; he had lost his eyesight after having had what the villagers refer to as “badi mata,” a form of measles, a few months ago.

Edith with Suriya

Vijay is approximately four years old and his weak sensory skills conveyed a sign of desperation. Sadly, to be blinded in a village is to also become a burden to the family. According to Jaimie Shaff, the Program Manager for RMF India, this type of situation occurs often due to the lack of medical access in the villages: with a simple vaccination and/or proper treatment, Vijay’s blindness could have been prevented.  His future livelihood could have been restored and his family’s sustainability premeasured.

The underprivileged youth/women/families are often a great reason to question our testimonies of reality.  Meanwhile, the ongoing distinctions with castes, classicism, gender inequality, religion and its people create a conflict towards progress.  Respective histories and stigmas continue to exist. Among the many questions, it is courageous to ask—what is being done?  The RMF team has guided me through the processes of working in the field and visiting families in the most rural and elusive locations. The local Staff, as well as the Community Nutrition Educators, display empathetic stamina as they routinely counsel and provide medical services that attempt to mitigate healthcare injustices that are ever so often ignored.

The final harvest of the channa crop in the fields where RMF works

The overall dedication of the RMF team is wholesome and the smiles after a days work are genuine.  In the United States, I have had an array of past work experiences ranging from social work to healthcare policy to migrant farm work. However, these moments of unity with the people of India will distinctly stay in my memory. In addition, it is most important to humble yourself in order to understand the true depths of compassion.

Edith with the RMF host family

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click hereand the Bhil Academy click here

To contribute to this initiative visit our website at www.realmedicinefoundation.org

by Jaimie Shaff

Shakuntala before surgery

We’ve all played the classic game “heads, shoulders, knees, and toes (knees and toes!)” Actually, I’ve been so wrapped up in adulthood, I had forgotten about it. One night when we visited the Bhil Academy, I saw Naiara playing the game with the smallest kids and remembered singing the song with my cousins and preschool students, back in the day. Part of the song goes “eyes and ears and nose and mouth…” and the children point to the respective parts of the face. Two eyes. Two ears. One nose. One mouth. Something so simple, most of us don’t even think about the meaning.

Shakuntala after surgery

For children born with cleft palates, the song is not so simple. The physical deformity is visually shocking, and can cause much stigma against the child throughout life. From what we have seen in rural India, when the child is first born, parents don’t know what to do or how to feed the baby, and some children end up severely malnourished. As the child grows up, he or she is often ostracized from his/her peers, leading to delinquency and absence from school. As an adult, the acceptance into society is reduced, and all social aspects of life are affected. For women in our region, a cleft palate is a serious burden to bear, increasing risks such as domestic violence and job discrimination.

Sharikia before surgery

Fortunately, a solution is simple. A procedure that takes only 30 minutes can change the entire future for a child. Unfortunately, the knowledge of available services and access to such is not widespread in rural areas, and the burden of a curable birth “defect” adds weight to an already difficult life.

20 February 2011, SmileTrain and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital held a health screening in Meghnagar for cleft palates, heart conditions, thyroid issues, and other ailments not screened for at rural health centers. Our nutrition team arranged for three children from three districts to be screened for cleft palate operations, and the team at CHL-Apollo offered to operate on any children we brought with us to pre-op.

Sharika after surgery

On Wednesday, Naiara, Edith, Pushpa, Manisha, and myself brought four children from the districts of Jhabua, Khargone, and Barwani to CHL-Apollo for pre-op (three children were sick and had to be postponed).

17 March 2011, all four children received successful operations for their cleft palates.  Thanks to the incredible support and efforts by SmileTrain and the team of CHL-Apollo, the lives of Shakuntala, Sharika, Pepita, and Pipu will be forever changed.

Pepita before surgery

I was absolutely overwhelmed with the quality of care and attention provided by CHL-Apollo, and am so grateful to see the generosity and compassion that exists in the world.  Out of all of the experiences I’ve had working here, this was certainly one of the best.

Pepita after surgery

Three of the children will be receiving a second surgery in June, and three more children are in line for their first.  We can’t wait to see their new smiles!

A special thanks goes to Mr. Rajul Bhargava, Dr. Jaideep Chauhan, the team at CHL-Apollo, and the staff of Hotel Infiniti for all that you did to make this possible.

SmileTrain’s website can be found here: http://www.smiletrain.org and CHL-Apollo-Indore Hospital can be found here: http://www.chlhospitals.com

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here and the Bhil Academy click here

To contribute to this initiative, click on the Donate button below or visit our website atwww.realmedicinefoundation.org

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Why I am Running, Nairy Ghazourian

Nairy and some children in Armenia

Nairy Ghazourian, Country Director, Real Medicine Foundation – Armenia

Interviewed by Charles Case

I am in the home stretch of my training for the upcoming L.A. marathon’s Big 5K, and it is grueling. Training every other day, pushing myself to compete and succeed, feeling old injuries flare back up, I cannot help but ask myself, “Why am I running?”

The answer is clear: I am running to help the women and children in the small Armenian village of Shinuhayr.

The village of Shinuhayr is in one of the poorest parts of a poor country. Lacking basic medical services, the Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) has stepped in to provide primary health and child-maternal health for the people of the village. This clinic also serves women and children in the seven surrounding villages. In 2010 RMF helped vaccinate a total of 504 children. Also, we aim at educating parents about the importance of vaccinations in order to help them in make healthier “health” decisions for themselves and their children.

As challenging, and sometimes painful, as training for a run can be, I ask myself what is my pain compared to the suffering of an Armenian child like Daniel? In December 2010, RMF assisted Daniel, a 2-year-old boy, with his transportation, hospitalization and medication after he suffered fourth degree burns on his back and lower part of his body. Daniel comes from a very poor family of six and the parents have no work.  Their sole source of income is the $100 they receive per month from the state.

I feel the same passion and urgency to help when I think of another heartbreaking story from the same region of Armenia.  Currently, we are intervening with an 11-year-old little girl who is unable to walk and must endure agonizing pain due to scoliosis and deformation of her spine. There are medical procedures that could significantly improve her condition, but they are extremely expensive and her family is unable to afford any treatment. RMF is looking into helping this little girl gain wellness. However, the initial phase of her treatment costs $3,000.

I want to help this girl with a passion that stirs my blood, and I will take this enthusiasm with me when I run this weekend.  And I hope my commitment to her future becomes so contagious that it inspires an army of ambassadors to take up the cause of helping her and Daniel and the other children of Armenia.

RMF is helping these children, and many more around the world. However, this type of deep and lasting assistance is costly and we can only provide it by raising funds with events like this.  So for me, when I ask myself the question “Why am I running?” I don’t have to search very far the answer. The better question is “Why aren’t YOU running?”

So, lace up. Let’s run to raise money for RMF and to give the children of Shinuhayr a chance at a better life!

To make a donation to the RMF Armenia through Nairy’s LA Marathon fundraising please go here.

More information about the Athletes for Real Medicine team can be found on it’s Facebook page here or the page on the Real Medicine website page here

To make a general donation to our LA Marathon Athletes for Real Medicine team please visit our fundraising page on Crowdrise here

Our clinic has moved to a new building with the sponsorship of the local authorities in San Clemente.  This will new location will cost less for us to rent and manage, and brings us closer in partnership with the local health and political representatives.

Below are a collection of photographs from the official inauguration with the local mayor and other dignitaries present for the ribbon cutting ceremony.  More photos to come as we get settled into our new location.

For more information about our clinic in Peru, please visit our website: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/policlinico-peruano-americano

Follow us on TwitterFacebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com

To contribute to this or any of our other initiatives, please click the Donate button below or through our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

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As part of our ongoing Passion and Purpose series of interviews, here we interview Krystjan Jensen, a member of the Athletes for Real Medicine team, and is one of the team running the upcoming LA Marathon for RMF.

Interview by Brandi Howell

Q: How/why did you initially get involved with Real Medicine Foundation?

A: Though I have been involved in healthcare for sometime, I hadn’t joined a humanitarian organization because I had not found a group with a human touch, as ironic as that may sound. Many had too high a percentage of administration fees, and those that didn’t could look rather large and impersonal. Lisa Suen introduced me to Real Medicine and everything seemed to agree with my ideas about medicine. Were it not for the fact that Real Medicine looks at the entire community to address systemic problems, I probably would not have joined.

Q: What inspired you to run the L.A. Marathon in 2010 with Athletes for Real Medicine Official Charity Team?

A:  The idea that I could run to support the cause was novel. I knew about Revlon Run/Walk for Breast Cancer and similar events, but it never occurred to me to actually do it instead of donate. I ran track in high school, but a motorcycle accident and a series of knee injuries the following year made running a marathon look permanently out of the cards, and yet here I am. The marathon slowly has become a challenge to help other people starting with helping myself, which I never expected. In a strange way, it has taught me that being strong for others is about endurance, not short bursts of philanthropy.

Q: Tell us a little bit about Athletes for Real Medicine.

A:  Athletes is a mixture of runners and would-be runners from all walks of life. It has been quite difficult getting people to run together because we operate over such a big area (i.e. the whole planet). I haven’t even made it out to run with the group yet because I live so far away, and I’m in the same county! We have a very solid core, and this core pulls in friends to run events like the LA Marathon, but now is really the time for us to add around 10 solid people to join in the week-to-week operations. I’d really like to see athletes from other events come forward and expand us into other events, as well as seeing more people representing Real Medicine at other events like 5K’s and half marathons.

Q:  Real Medicine is in 15 different countries and involved with many different programs.  If you were going to visit one of RMF’s projects, which one would you choose and why?

A: Peru, because I’m directing my fundraising to Peru.

Q:  You’re planning on running the L.A. Marathon in 2011.  Is there any particular country or cause that you’re fundraising for?

A: I chose Peru because, being a son of Chileans, Peru is close to my own culture and heart. The 2007 Peru quake went kind of unnoticed in the US, and our government only donated $150,000 dollars and some supplies. I was aware at the time that Shakira donated something like $40 million, which is embarrassing the government, and incredibly praiseworthy for Shakira. Peru remains an incredibly poor country, and the large wealth gap means that those in Ica Province (where the quake occurred) really had no chance for decent care to begin with. I really think this initiative is making a tremendous, tremendous difference.

Q:  Do you have any running/training secrets that help you to prepare for the big day?

A:  Really none! Since this is my first marathon, I need all the advice I can get. Training has been harder than I expected, but also more rewarding. So far (15 miles in) my knees are cooperating. My only fear is that they give out on race day and I have to walk. Changing my running stance to landing on the balls of my feet has eliminated most of my knee pain, so I guess I was running ‘wrong’ before.

Q:  What words of wisdom would you share with the first-time marathoners out there?

A:  You can do it. Just the sound of the word “marathon” used to scare me, but it’s really all in your head. If you want to run a marathon, you can, but you need to commit and you need to hit the road consistently.

Finding time for the long runs has been my biggest challenge, since I train alone.It’s so much easier to stay motivated if someone will run with you.

For more information about RMF’s Athletes for Real Medicine, click here.

Follow us on Twitter or our Athletes for Real Medicine Facebook page or our Group page on Facebook

We have also posted a Youtube video of some of our team training and talking about the cause: http://www.youtube.com/user/RealMedFoundation#p/u/0/EH4WOIWIcGc

Southern Sudan Post Referendum Update


Real Medicine Foundation, in collaboration with the Government of South Sudan, the UNFPA, the WHO, St. Mary’s Hospital, Isle of Wight, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and in partnership with and with financial support from World Children’s Fund, is establishing the first College of Nursing and Midwifery. The consortium aims to provide a scalable working model for this college that will offer a 3 year diploma for Registered Nursing and Midwifery and may be extended to other strategic locations within the country.

Here are some excerpts from our partner in Sudan, the UNFPA and their communications office: United Nations Mission in Southern Sudan/Public Information Office

Post Referendum Monitor

  • • Committee to be formed to address future status of SPLA northerners (Al-Rai Al-Aam et al)
  • • JIUs to remain in Abyei until 9th July (Al-Sahafa et al)
  • • Parliament goes on recess – back in April without some members – Speaker (Akhir Lahza)
  • • 60% of southern Sudanese workers “without skills” – GoSS VP (Al-Ahdath)
  • • GoSS preparing to bombard us – Athor (Al-Raed)
  • • NCP, Umma differ over form of government (Al-Sahafa)

Other Headlines

  • • Protestors in West Darfur urge UNAMID to employ them (Sudan Vision)
  • • Sudan says cancellation of VPs address in Blue Nile caused by ill-preparation

(Sudantribune.com)

  • • South Sudan police academy mired in abuse scandal (AP)
  • • Sudan & AU break silence on Libya as death toll rises (Sudantribune.com)
  • • Foreign ministry jeopardising the lives of Sudanese in Libya (Al-Sahafa)
  • • SPLM refutes hostility to other political southern parties (Sudantribune.com)
  • • Darfur mediators deliver new proposals to Sudanese parties (Sudantribune.com)

Committee to be formed to address future status of SPLA northerners

Al-Rai Al-Aam Khartoum, 24/02/11 – Addressing a meeting organised by the NCP women’s office, President al-Bashir said that military committees would soon be formed to address the issue of the future of northern Sudanese in the ranks of the SPLA. Those who are fit would beenlisted in the ranks of the SAF or the Sudan Police, Al-Raed quotes him as saying.

Al-Bashir also reiterated commitment to form an anti-graft commission and a council that would look into graduate employment issues. He encouraged all Sudanese with grievances to table these grievances before the relevant parties.  The president called for an end to tribalism and racism, pointing out that these were to blame for opening up the country to foreign intervention.  Al-Bashir further pointed out that his government and National Congress Party (NCP) get their legitimacy from the Islamic Sharia and pointed out that he feels no shame in implementing the penal code as prescribed by the Islamic laws. The president reiterated his resolve to make of Sudan a model of stability in the African region.

JIUs to remain in Abyei until 9th July

Al-Sahafa Khartoum, 24/02/11 – The Ceasefire Political Committee (CPC) has resolved that the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs), with the exception of those in Abyei, disengage by 9th April 2011 with the SAF and SPLA contingents redeploying to their respective sides of the north-south border. The forces stationed in Abyei would maintain their positions until 9th July, the two sides agreed.

Al-Dirderi Mohamed Ahmed who heads the NCP side in the CPC said that the two sides agreed that the parties to the CPA would then decide on the future of the JIUs positioned in Abyei during this period. The parties, he adds, have also resolved to form a joint committee under UN supervision to investigate the 9th February incidents that occurred in Abyei.  On the JIUs stationed in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile State, Al-Dirdeiri said that the parties have agreed that the disengagement order would also cover those forces and that a committee would be dispatched to those areas.

On his part, the head of the SPLA side to the talks said that the issue of redeployment of SPLA forces from Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile has been under debate for a long time especially through the Ceasefire Joint Military Committee (CJMC) and the Joint Defence Board (JDB) that both failed to verify SPLA redeployment south of the borders. The committee, he said, has requested the CJMC and the JDB to verify the issue and report back at the next meeting. He pointed out that the SPLA maintains that it has redeployed its forces south of the borders and that those who remain are elements from other armed groups. He called on the joint committee to go over to these areas to verify for themselves on the SPLA presence in those areas.

The committee has also asked the JDB to come up with a detailed redeployment schedule and to designate assembly areas for the forces thus redeployed. The meeting also resolved that international monitors continue in their duties related as far as the redeployment of the forces is concerned. The two sides, he noted, still need UNMIS as witnesses

at the end of the Interim Period.

Parliament goes on recess – back in April without some members – Speaker

Akhir Lahza Omdurman, 24/02/11 – Parliament has called a recess and would resume business in April. Speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir said however that parliament would return to business without some of its current members.

The Speaker’s statement did not go well with the SPLM lawmakers who have resolved to meet today to decide on a specific position on the issue.

60% of southern Sudanese workers “without skills” – GoSS VP

Al-Ahdath Khartoum, 24/02/11 – GoSS Vice-President Riek Machar has called on southern Sudanese university teaching staff to make use of their knowledge to help build the new state in southern Sudan. He underlined the need for the establishment of research and curricula development institutions in the region, pointing out that about 60% of southern Sudanese workers have no skills.

GoSS preparing to bombard us – Athor

Al-Raed Khartoum, 24/02/11 – Renegade SPLA General George Athor claims that the SPLA is amassing its troops to bombard his positions including with the use of aircraft. He threatened to respond in kind to any SPLA attack on his military positions.

Speaking from his base in southern Sudan, Athor assured southern Sudanese that his forces are prepared to address any eventuality.

NCP, Umma differ over form of government

Al-Sahafa Khartoum, 24/02/11 – The NCP and Umma parties have agreed to continue dialogue on a number of issues relating to the constitution, national accord and the structure of government. The meeting that was held at the Republic Palace was co-chaired by Nafie Ali Nafei (NCP) and Sidig Mohamed Ismail (National Umma Party) however failed to reach agreement on participation in government.

Read more about Healthcare Sector Capacity Building – College of Nursing and Midwifery, Southern Sudan

Follow us on TwitterFacebook or become a fundraiser for us at Causes.com

To contribute to this or any of our other initiatives, please click the Donate button below or through our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

The team over at Causes.com sang our very own Jaimie Shaff, a happy birthday song in this video, in honor of her unbelievably successful Birthday Wish campaign that raised $7,000 using the Causes.com Facebook platform for some very special children in India!!

Click here to see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2dW2xBrZNg

For those who haven’t been following Jaimies birthday wish Campaign, she had set a goal of raising $6,500 by her birthday to help Real Medicine’s mission of combating Malnutrition among children in India.  Thanks to many of her friends and family and some very generous last minute Anonymous donors, Jaimie’s campaign surpassed it’s goal of $6,500 yesterday and has reached $7,000 as of today!!

Click here to see Jaimie’s birthday wish page: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/activists/14646351?m=3fac8eda

Over the past few months, Jaimie has been working in rural India for RMF and those who have been reading her blogs and emails know it has been far from easy.  Jaimie had fallen in love with several of the little patients being treated and that needed help over and above what the RMF Malnutrition Eradication program was able to offer.  With that in mind Jaimie dedicated her birthday to raising funds for these children.

You can also read Jaimie’s most recent blog here: http://bit.ly/fZ5Afb or visit our website’s Malnutrition Eradication Initiative here: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/malnutrition-eradication-program-madhya-pradesh-india

Find out more about donating your birthday to Real Medicine or fundraising through the Causes.com platform: http://wishes.causes.com/login

Thanks to all for your continued support, or you can visit our website and make a donation there: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/donors

The Team at Real Medicine

An angel, from JustDial.com by Caitlin Mcquilling

I’m often asked what keeps me going in the face of the hardships and emotionally taxing situations we face working on issues such as childhood malnutrition and HIV/AIDS day in and day out.  My answer is simple: it’s all about finding inspiration in the most unexpected of places and circumstances.

Caitlin, and the mothers and children at the Malnutrition clinic

On Tuesday while out on a village visit we came across a little girl, Gila, who was extremely sick and dangerously malnourished.  She and her family had just returned from a month long stay at a private hospital in Dahod, Gujarat where Gila was properly diagnosed with tubercular meningitis, but unfortunately was not given the proper treatment.  Over the month she was there the family spent their entire savings and then some only to see Gila rapidly deteriorating.  After a month when the family could no longer afford “treatment” they were sent home.  This is when we found the family in the village, desperate for us to help in any way we could.  As soon as I saw Gila I knew she needed expert medical care not available in the state of MP.  We told the family that we would have to bring the little girl to the hospital immediately and they eagerly agreed without a second thought.

Along with Gila’s father, Suroj, we consulted a doctor in Jhabua to get his opinion on whether or not the girl could travel.  With the doctor’s immediate advice to go straight to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and BJ Medical College,  I set out along with Sumitra, our CNE who first met the family, our wonderful and uncomplaining driver Mesul, and the little girl’s father and cousin on the 8 hour car ride.

As soon as we reached BJ Medical College, one of the best government health facilities in the country, we were rushed straight to the pediatric ICU.  The wonderful team of doctors there immediately put the little girl on oxygen and started treatment immediately.  They told us that the little girl’s condition was extremely serious and her chances of survival weren’t good, but promised to do everything they could to save her.  I spent the day in the hospital with the family on Wednesday, understanding the next steps with the doctors, getting all the lab tests they needed expedited, and making sure that they were comfortable.   We set the family up with a network of kind local volunteers who promised to look after the family on a daily basis since RMF couldn’t station one of our team members at the hospital for the 3-4 weeks the family would need to be there.

At 5am on Thursday while I was rushing to get my things together for the airport, I got a phone call from Suroj.  Between sobs, Gila’s father told me that she had passed away a half hour before and he didn’t know what to do.  He wanted to go home as soon as possible to cremate Gila, but didn’t know how he would get her body the 10 hours home.  He begged me to help the family find a way home as soon as possible.  When I got into the taxi a few minutes later I knew my options were severely limited.  I had to be on a flight in an hour to go to an important meeting in Bhopal, but I also couldn’t leave this family stranded.  I’m not very familiar with Ahmedabad, especially to find an emergency hearse at 5am capable of making an 8 hour trip across state boundaries.  But as I greeted the taxi driver, that my friend found from JustDial.com, I immediately had a good feeling about him.  I had 20 minutes to convince Nitin, the driver, to drive 10 hours with a sobbing father and a dead body.

I laid it on thick.  In my remedial Hindi I told him about the work RMF does in Jhabua, about the malnourished kids, about this caring family who tried to do everything for their daughter but who were failed by the medical system.  I wasn’t ashamed to beg this man to do us this favor.  By the end of the taxi ride this driver had no choice but to agree to my outrageous request to go directly from the airport to the district hospital to find a family who didn’t speak his language (Bhili v. Gujarati) and to take them and child’s body 8 hours to a tribal area which many individuals in Ahmedabad have prejudice about.   The driver was hesitant to take on this responsibility but conceded to take the family as far as Jhabua (not their village) as long as there was a death certificate.  While the taxi driver seemed honest, I could only wish for the best as I handed him money and ran into the airport to catch my flight.

While going through airport security I arrange an expedited death certificate from the hospital and connected Nitin with Suroj and Suminta.  As I boarded the flight Nitin was lost on the hospital campus.  On my layover in Indore I confirmed that Nitin had in fact picked up the family and that they were safely on the way to Jhabua.  Phew.  Job done.  I could now concentrate on PowerPoints and process indicators.

Thursday evening I got a call from Sumitra, our CNE who met the family in Jhabua when they arrived.  After she filled me in on how the family was doing, how the cremation went, and so on, she also had a message for me.

Not only had Nitin driven the family the 10 hours to Jhabua as agreed, he also insisted on driving them all the way to their remote village himself.  Not only did he go out of his way to drive them to the village, he attended Gila’s cremation as a member of the family.  The next morning he called Sumitra, not to complain, as many people would, but to thank her.  He told Sumitra that he was grateful that RMF asked him to do this.  He said it made him feel so good that he was able to be there for this wonderful family during their time of need and was just happy to be part of all of this.

Thank you Nitin.  Its individuals like you who keep us going and remind us that even in the most terrible of circumstances, humanity can be found from the most unexpected places.

For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here and for more on our HIV/AIDS click here.

We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

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Introducing a new pilot initiative within RMF’s Eradicate Malnutrition Program:  Strengthening Community Management of Childhood Malnutrition through community mobilization, and nutrition and health education of mothers and pregnant women in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh has the highest rate of childhood malnutrition in India, with upwards of 60% of all children under 5 years old underweight.  In many tribal communities in the state, this rate may be even higher, with alarmingly high rates of severe and moderate acute malnutrition.  These communities often have limited access to government resources meant to prevent and treat malnutrition and have low levels of awareness about proper young child care.

To respond to these alarming levels of malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh, the Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) launched a childhood malnutrition program across 5 of the worst hit districts in Southwest Madhya Pradesh – Jhabua, Alirajpur, Khandwa, Khargone, and Barwani – employing 55 local women to act as Community Nutrition Educators to help empower communities to combat malnutrition and to identify children with severe acute malnutrition.  Given the success of these women in addressing malnutrition at the community level over the last year, RMF is teaming up with the Department of Women and Child Development and the Madhya Pradesh Technical Assistance Support Team MPTAST) to roll out a pilot program in Barwani district to address childhood malnutrition through community mobilization.  This program is supported with financial help from DFID and from technical assistance from Action Against Hunger.

Our staff attending training session

Project Objective

To build the capacity of anganwadi workers and supervisors to drive community mobilization and provide high quality health and nutrition education services in order to develop community capacity to recognize malnutrition, respond to malnutrition using local resources and make referrals when necessary, and to prevent malnutrition in the long-run.

Target Area

This pilot program will provide full coverage to two blocks in Barwani District – Pati and Barwani blocks –with a total of 204 villages and 370 anganwadi centers.  The target population will be children under 5 years old and pregnant and lactating mothers.

Barwani is a remote and rocky district at the southern most corner of Madhya Pradesh, boarding Maharashtra and Gujarat, with a population of 10,81,039 (2001 census).  It is the second most tribal district in Madhya Pradesh, with 67% ST population.  The size of each village varies from roughly 800 and 3000 people, with larger towns scattered throughout the blocks.  Barwani is considered one of the most remote districts of India.  Many of its villages are located in hilly regions, cut off from roads and access to markets.

Staff in the field

Social Mobilization Approach

The project’s social mobilization approach is founded on strengthening the capacity of the government’s ICDS programme to mobilize communities for child nutrition by delivering quality nutrition and health education classes to mothers.  This will lead to increased community understanding of child nutrition issues, more women and families adopting better nutrition practices, and increased demand for government services that people are entitled to.

The project will achieve this by capacitating Anganwadi Workers, Supervisors and CDPOs to hold regular monthly community sensitization meetings to generate interest in and sustain momentum for community action.  The sensitization meetings will increase awareness of malnutrition, its signs and the care that malnourished children need. Tools are being developed to help raise awareness of the scale of malnutrition in the village, how it can be identified, the location of pockets of malnutrition in the village, and stimulate debate on what individual families and the community can do to address this problem.

Through awareness raising events, influential persons and opinion leaders will provide support to the sensitization program through the Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Committee which will serve as the local nutrition monitoring group. These newly formed Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Committees will monitor the regularity, reach and quality of services provided at the Anganwadi Centre.  They will provide feedback and suggestions to key members of the local community and will report any gaps in services to the panchayats for community action. Community leaders and influential persons and the local monitoring group will meet regularly to share monitoring information, help resolve local problems and enable the smooth functioning of Anganwadi Centres. Additionally, by focusing on strengthening anganwadi supervisors’ capacity for supportive supervision, the project will not only institute a system of stronger monitoring and evaluation into the program, but will begin a process of on-going trainings.

Output

As a result of the on-going capacity building and trainings, this project will capacitate Anganwadi Workers to hold regular, participatory and practical health and nutrition education sessions for the mothers of malnourished and underweight children.  It will also strengthen their interpersonal communication skills which will benefit other elements of their duties.

Anganwadi Workers with support from Supervisors and CNEs will hold nutrition and health education classes twice a month.  CNEs will also assist supervisors and anganwadi workers on active case finding in children from hamlets and areas within villages who are not currently accessing anganwadi resources and will help connect these families with the system.  Referrals for complicated cases of SAM and MAM will be made to the Barwani NRC.

Progress thus far

RMF began the groundwork for this project in November 2010 and officially started working on the project at the project’s approval in December 2010.  The first step was to introduce the program to local leadership, and then work to recruit new positions for the program, begin developing manuals and IEC/BCC tools, hold the training for new CNEsm and to make the plan for the project moving forwards.

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For more information about RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program in India, click here.

We can use any financial help you are able to provide on this project to continue our Education, Treatment and Outreach and help towards our goal of Malnutrition Eradication in this region of India.

To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

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By Sarah Stern

In the month leading up to our annual holiday party at Florence Western Medical Center, there was a great deal of excitement in the air. Carly Krause, a dedicated RMF volunteer and I began the preparations for our 3rd annual holiday party, with our attendance expected to double to approximately 50-60 children. Florence Western’s Medical Director, Dr. Kevin Thomas, introduced us to Mary Miller, who was excited to join the RMF team for this year’s party. On a limited budget, we sought donations of food, toys and supplies for the children – and exactly one week before the party Mary called me with the news that Northrop Grumman would be making a large donation towards the purchase of toys for the children! Our phone conversation at 11:30pm that night was filled with tears of joy and gratitude, and now came the fun part: though we were grateful for and happy with donations from FOX Entertainment Group, toys bought from Target’s $1 bins and a generous gift card from Gelson’s Markets, we now had the ability to provide everyone with dream gift bags.

Story continued below photo gallery:

RMF volunteer Anicee Lau took on the task of assisting me with coordinating our volunteers, which came flooding in the weeks prior.  We had close to 20 volunteers who showed up in spite of the weather (record breaking rainfall in Los Angeles), offering holiday cookies and decoration supplies for the children to decorate as well as gifts for the children, photography services, and helping hands that were greatly needed. Real Medicine is built upon a foundation of “Friends helping Friends helping Friends”, and this year’s volunteer turn out showed that 5 years since our inception we are going stronger than ever, and growing each and every year.

Kwanzaa stories, yoga/fitness fun, snowflakes and wreath creations followed by cookie decorating were the planned activities, and though the weather had dampened our original plans to hold the event outdoors, we made do with one very intimate, energetic outreach room. The children then proceeded to share in all of the beautiful food trays the volunteers had prepared, and one by one their names were called out and they received a bag overflowing with gifts. The parents’ expression of gratitude alone was enough to fill your heart, but that combined with the children’s laughter and smiles from this year’s event, well, that was enough to fill your soul.

My deepest thanks to the dedicated staff of Florence Western Medical Center, my assistants Carly Krause and Anicee Lau for their countless hours of preparation,  Maya Jabbur Photography for hundreds of beautiful photos, our amazing volunteers who made sure that everything ran as smoothly as possible, our angels of the season Mary Miller, Mara Leng, Chief Bernard Parks office for all those tables and chairs, Northrop Grumman, FOX Entertainment Group and last but not least, the most beautiful and amazing children of South Los Angeles which we will continue to love and support with our outreach programs and holiday parties.

If you would like to help support our Los Angeles programs, which provide health & nutrition workshops, art therapy, yoga and reading programs for children of low-income families, I encourage you to make a donation today, as every bit counts. The children of this community have no access to the programs Real Medicine provides through their school districts, and we are able to offer them a safe haven for education, creativity and stress management.  Please help us to be able to continue to provide these services as well as expand them to include programs for the local teens that desperately need local programs that would help them to obtain the necessary skills to become responsible, well rounded young adults.

To contribute to this initiative, please click Donate button or visit our website at realmedicinefoundation.org.

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