malnutrition

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Thank You For An Amazing Year!

January 4, 2012 in Africa, Armenia, Asia, Disaster Relief, Donate, Europe, General, Helping Children, India, Japan, Kenya, Mission, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, South America, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, Whole Health by Jonathan White | Comments closed

Photo: Dr. Martina C. Fuchs, RMF Founder/CEO, making new friends at the Lwala, Kenya Community Hospital, October 1, 2011

We are so grateful to all our friends, supporters and teams around the world and wish everyone a fantastic 2012!

Having wrapped up another successful  we want to pause and say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who supported our work in 2011.  You have helped us achieve so much, and we give our deep thanks to everyone for your generosity and support!

In 2011 we..

  • In Japan, post-earthquake and tsunami, RMF reached over 33,000 people in Ishinomaki City with supplies, debris/sludge cleanup, and community center support.
  • In India, in RMF’s Malnutrition Eradication Program, our field staff of 75 Community Nutrition Educators diagnosed and treated 85,016 cases of Acute Malnutrition in more than 600 villages since our program started in 2010.
  • In Uganda, we provided healthcare, education and vocational training support to 55,000 refugees at the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement.
  • In South Sudan, 40 Nurses and Midwives at the RMF sponsored first-ever accredited Nursing and Midwifery College in Juba, are beginning their 2nd year of training.
  • In Pakistan, RMF treated more than 25,000 flood victims at our free medical camps, 32,000 patients at our clinic in Gulbella and provided healthcare in Talhatta for more than 150,000.
  • In Haiti, our free clinic at Hôpital Lambert Santé provided public access to 24-hour emergency and general healthcare to a community that is home to more than 100,000 displaced persons.
  • In Kenya, we upgraded the only hospital for 1,000,000 people in Lodwar, Turkana, starting with the pediatric ward and also continued to provide medical support, food and water to thousands through mobile and stationary clinics in the poorest and most drought ravaged regions in Kenya.
  • Closer to home, in South Los Angeles, RMF provided 70 children with new backpacks filled with school supplies and personal products, and just threw a Holiday Party for these children on December 17th.

From all of us at RMF: Have a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2012!

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India: Sonu, one of our greatest success stories

November 29, 2011 in Helping Children, India, Initiatives, Mission by Jonathan White | Comments closed

Sonu’s Story Continued

By Michael Matheke-Fischer, Director of Programs, RMF India

Sunday, November 20, 2011 was the first time I met Sonu. To me, he was a picture on a PowerPoint presentation, a picture that continues to shock me today. Sonu came into our program 15 months ago while I was in Delhi working on streamlining our administrative procedures and, more importantly, trying to raise more funds to help children like him. Fundraising and administrative work, while just as vital as the field work we engage in, is an ever present necessity shared by our small, but dedicated team.

Caitlin McQuilling told me about a case that had shocked even her. While sitting in Delhi, it was hard to hear the emotion in her voice. Days were spent monitoring his progress, coordinating with doctors, and attempting to diagnose exactly what was causing his dramatic wasting. All of this was terribly frustrating while sitting in meetings and pouring over budgets.

The team watched Sonu finally begin to improve, his weight gaining dramatically over three months until he was a healthy, even hefty, child.

Stories of Sonu floated around our house in Jhabua, and his example served as an inspiration to all of us to work harder, reach more children, and find out what we are capable of.

On Sunday, I met a child who could not possibly be the picture I had seen and shown so many times. There was no way, simply none, that such a child could have ever been as wasted and close to death as the picture I was so familiar with. Now back in the field, Sonu has turned in my mind from a stark example of the ravages of malnutrition to a child with a future, a face with expressions, and an energy that I will feed off of for the months to come. His sisters have taken to calling him “motapet” which in Hindi roughly means fat belly.

Even though budgets, PowerPoint’s, reports, and fundraising are still a large part of my job, at least now I have yet another example of why I do it!

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 toward 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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Malnourished Miracles: Vishal’s story

December 3, 2010 in Asia, General, India, Jaimie Shaff, Voices from the Field by Jonathan White | Comments closed

Continuing with our Malnutrition Eradication Program series and fundraiser another great blog from from Jaimie Shaff in the field in India…

by Jaimie Shaff

Every morning, when I wake up to the honking horns, howling dogs, and bustles of morning life I wonder how the day is going to be. As I lay out my yoga mat and dedicate my practice to what will be, I try to take a deep breath for all that I can not anticipate. See, life in the field is a constant state of uncertainty, a question of what will happen next, and a sequence of highs and lows, equilibrium a state I no longer know.

But it all somehow balances out.

Vishal on his first visit to NRC

Today I arrived to the NRC to the smiling face of Vishal. Vishal arrived at the NRC two months ago presenting with severe acute malnutrition, apparent moderate mental disability, vomiting, and diarrhea, and was not taking food. He had a very severe infection that was treated, but he continued to refuse to eat. His mother was pregnant, and had stopped breastfeeding him 5 months previously—Vishal had never had complementary feeding, and was not responsive to attempts to give him F75, even through the breastfeeding assist.

Vishal continuously reached for the breast of his mother and grandmother, particularly when food was offered to him. However, it appeared that when Vishal’s grandmother was with him, he was more cooperative to feeding. His mother did not come to the NRC for several days, and Vishal began to take the F75. When his mother returned, Vishal stopped eating again. After a week we referred them to seek treatment at another hospital to seek further treatment, but they told us that they had been there before and would not go back. We continued to tell the grandmother and mother how important it was to get him better treatment/nourishment. The grandmother made every effort to get Vishal to eat, but the mother seemed apathetic.

Vishal was my first seriously complicated case in which I had no idea what to do next. At one point, I was up in the middle of the night blending peanuts to make RUTF! When we weren’t watching, his mother and grandmother would try to sneak him biscuits and chips (definitely not in the protocol!), which he would nibble on occasionally, but eventually throw in a fit of anger. In some last ditch efforts, we tried to put RUTF on the biscuits to see if he’d take that, but he wouldn’t. After a week we had asked the family to go to Jhabua District Hospital, but they refused and asked to stay at Jeevan Jyoti.

Vishal after 2 months of treatment

After two weeks, the family wanted to go home for a few days and come back. A wave of kids had just arrived and we knew that another child would fill the bed—we had no choice but to, once again, refer. They told us that they wouldn’t go and asked us to try more, promising to come back in a couple of days. We couldn’t guarantee an empty bed, and when they left the hospital, we could only hope they sought treatment elsewhere.

Every follow up day I’ve looked for Vishal. We’ve sent Community Nutrition Educator’s to his village, but he was never home and no one knew where he was or if he was migrating. I knew when we referred him to a higher center that his condition was critical, and didn’t want to think of the worst-case scenario.

And then today I see his smiling face. He’s up running and laughing and sharing toys with other kids in the NRC. I was absolutely overwhelmed with happiness. His cheeks were plump, he had a sparkle in his eye, and he was smiling. Far from the listless, angry, stubborn child from 2 months ago, Vishal was on the mend.

It turned out that our counseling had actually worked. The grandmother took Vishal to Dahod for treatment and he was put on anti-Tuberculosis medicines. They used our feeding techniques to get him to eat nutritious food, and they have also been engaging him psychosocially, stimulating his mental development and helping him achieve the catch-up that he needs. His mother gave birth to her second son 15 days ago.  Now is the true test to the efficacy of our counseling efforts and emotional support: will the family take back the knowledge given to them at the NRC to raise a happy and healthy child? We hope so. Based on Vishal’s incredible improvement, I think things will work out.

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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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Treating the children of Jhabua, India

August 5, 2010 in Helping Children, India, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities by Jonathan White | Comments closed

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.

As May is the hot, hot, dry season in central India, the villages/farms we went to were barren. It was easy to see the great challenge faced by these families to feed their children when nothing of substance could possibly grow in that heat.  In fact, a few of the children we attempted to visit were not there as their families had migrated to other areas of the country for their father to find work.

One of the children we did see for follow up had been ill with vomiting and diarrhea. He was dangerously underweight.  The Community Nutrition Educator informed the mother of the importance of getting him to the doctor. With no transportation and limited resources, RMF was able to provide the family with what was necessary for the child to be seen and evaluated by a doctor.

A few weeks after my departure from Jhabua, RMF opened a new NRC in partnership with Jeevan Jhyoti Hospital.  This unit has successfully treated over 20 children to date and 123 have been treated at other NRC’s in the last 6 months thanks to the tireless efforts of Michael, Caitlin, and their staff.  I hope to return to Jhabua in the future to assist with the program. Until I am able to go back I am committed to spreading the word and raising funds for the magical work that RMF does in India

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Introducing the newest RMF team India member, Jaimie Shaff!

August 3, 2010 in General, India, Partners by Jonathan White | Comments closed

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.

NYU Capstone Team, with RMF's Caitlin McQulling (on right)

We are encouraged by the continuity of Jaimie’s commitment to RMF’s program, from consultant and student to full time employee. The entire RMF India team is excited to welcome Jaimie to the team. The addition of her experience, perspective, and enthusiasm will aid a program that is already affecting the lives of tens of thousands of children at a time when monsoon rains are bringing new diseases that particularly target the weakened immune systems of malnourished children. RMF India, and the other country teams, hope that we can use this experience as a model for strengthening partnerships and bringing in new, and equally talented, employees into our growing programs.

For more information about our Malnutrition Program in India:http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/malnutrition-eradication-program-madhya-pradesh-india

If you’d like to donate to this or any of Real Medicine’s causes, you can click the donate button on this page or through our website at realmedicinefoundation.org


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Kenya: Opiyo’s story and RMF’s Lwala Community Health Center

July 23, 2010 in Africa, Kenya, Providing Medical Support, Rebuilding Communities, Whole Health by Jonathan White | Comments closed

by Jonathan White and James Nardella

Real Medicine’s Ochieng’ Memorial Lwala Community Health Center in Kenya is a community-based health care project that is managed and supported in partnership with the Lwala Community Alliance, a U.S. based humanitarian organization.  The mission of the clinic is to meet the holistic health needs of all members of the Lwala Community, including its poorest.

Whenever possible it addresses health problems at their roots through community health interventions.  It aims to provide excellent community-based health care, not to become a tertiary care facility.  The health center is part of a larger effort to achieve holistic health and development in Lwala, including educational and economic development.

The primary beneficiaries of the Lwala Community Health Center’s work are children, pregnant women, HIV infected persons and the elderly. Prior to the establishment of the clinic, there was no immediate access to primary health care or HIV/AIDS testing and care.

For this reason, the Lwala health intervention has focused on primary care for children, access to medicines (particularly vaccines and antimalarials), HIV testing and care, public health outreach and safe maternity.

Opiyo’s story

Like many areas of East Africa, malaria is endemic in the lowlands of Lwala, Kenya near Lake Victoria.  Children under age 5 are at the greatest risk of dying.  Opiyo, 6 months old, was near death when he arrived after dark the Lwala Clinic.  His racing heart and panting lungs were trying hard to push oxygen and anemic blood through his small body. Fluids, a transfusion, and malaria medicine were desperately needed.  Unfortunately Opiyo’s dehydrated body prevented the clinical officer, a visiting Pediatrician, and Milton Ochieng, MD from getting an intravenous line started.  Opiyo and mother, Milton and Fred Ochieng, and driver Joseph “Boy” piled into the Real Medicine funded 4 wheel drive ambulance and quickly headed for Kisii Provincial Hospital, one hour away.  Again the emergency room staff could not gain standard intravenous access.

Dr. Milton’s recent intensive care experience in St. Louis kept him from giving up.  After explaining a risky jugular vein IV insertion to Opiyo’s mother, obtaining consent, and saying a short prayer, Milton proceeded to insert a jugular line, blood was started, and Opiyo was on the road to recovery.  The many parents of other sick children in the jammed emergency department had watched the drama, and sighed with relief and awe for Opiyo.

For more information about the Lwala clinic in Kenya: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/healthcare-project-lwala-kenya

If you’d like to donate to this or any of Real Medicine’s causes, you can click the donate button on this page or through our website at realmedicinefoundation.org

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Raising Money for Children in India

July 22, 2010 in Donate, India, North America, Thank You by Jonathan White | Comments closed

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!

The opportunity to raise money to directly enhance the quality of someone’s life is truly a gift.  It’s amazing that I will be able to see my fundraising efforts put to use in person when I arrive in India.  I am grateful to Martina, Sarah, Michael and Real Medicine Foundation for allowing me the opportunity to assist and make a difference. Thank you!

Learn more about our Malnutrition Initiative in India: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiative/malnutrition-eradication-program-madhya-pradesh-india

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Shukla Bose Echos RMF Approach: “Teaching one Child at a Time” (TED Talk)

June 15, 2010 in Helping Children, India, Mission by Allison Glennon | Comments closed

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.

With 200 million children who should go to school but do not, 100 million children who go to school but cannot read, and a 250 million national budget with 90% going to pay salaries for teachers who do not attend school–1 in 4 teachers in India do not go to school all year–she was faced with a challenge seemingly beyond her means. But as she states, “we dug our heels in and said ‘we are not in the numbers game.”

She believes, like we do, that if you can focus on one child and take them all the way from start to finish, in Shukla’s case, taking children from their first day of school to the last day of high school or even college, then suddenly the numbers will begin to grow and replication will come on it’s own: Shukla has now opened 6 schools in areas throughout Bangalore and has even opened after school classes for parents.

Learn about RMF supported schools in Madhya Pradesh

Listen to the full Ted Talk here: Shukla Bose’s “Teaching one Child at a Time”

Find out more about RMF Malnutrition Eradication

Meet the RMF India team


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NYU Capstone Team Arrives in Jhabua, Madyha Pradesh

January 16, 2010 in General by Caitlin McQuilling | Comments closed

The Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) and NYU’s prestigious Capstone program have announced a partnership and three graduate students have arrived in Jhabua, Madyha Pradesh to assist with RMF’s malnutrition program.
An estimated 60 million children under the age of five are estimated to be malnourished India. The state where RMF is concentrating, Madhya Pradesh, has the country’s highest malnutrition burden, with 60% of its children under-five malnourished. Of the six million malnourished children in the state, 1.3 million of them have severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and one million have moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).
Children with MAM are able to recover with careful diet regulation and nutritional supplements, and generally do not require hospitalization. SAM presents itself in two general forms: complicated and uncomplicated. Complicated SAM entails outlying medical complications such as hypothermia and pneumonia. Both forms of SAM require a minimum stay of 14 days in a hospital.
RMF’s comprehensive approach to eradicating malnutrition focuses on the entire continuum of care from identification to treatment and prevention. The students will be conducting 14 days of field research to gather information on malnutrition knowledge, prevention activities, and treatment in government facilities throughout Jhabua and Alirajpur districts. Their research will help provide RMF with baseline analysis for new districts and with information about communities and facilities that are in need of assistance, as well as identify obstacles and problems faced by malnutrition field workers when working with local communities.
We will be taking the students to all 5 Nutritional Rehabilitation Centers in Jhabua and Alirajpur to assess the centralized treatment of SAM. In addition, the students will be going to village Anganwadi Centers, both rural and town, to interview Anganwadi workers about their needs, knowledge, and any recommendations they may have into improvements that could help children.
The RMF team here is excited to have the students, and is very much looking forward to their help and insights!
capstonephoto

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CNN: Poor nutrition is killing children, stunting growth

November 12, 2009 in India by Allison Glennon | Comments closed

students of Bhil Academy_2The following is taken from the article, UNICEF: Poor nutrition is killing children, stunting growth on CNN.com

Hunger is stunting hundreds of millions of children in the developing world, and more than 90 percent of them live in Africa and Asia, UNICEF says.

Poor nutrition is one of the main killers of young children, the U.N. Children’s Fund says in the new report “Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition.”

“The report we have launched draws attention to the fact that 200 million children under the age of 5 in the developing world suffer from chronic undernutrition,” said Werner Schultink, UNICEF’s associate director of nutrition.

A lack of food can impair physical, mental and social abilities, the report says, adding that proper nutrition is important for mother and child. The 1,000 days from conception until a child’s second birthday are the most critical for development

, according to UNICEF.

Undernourished children “will perform less well in school, they will be able to do less well as an adult and, even worse, their health situation in adult life may be negatively affected,” Schultink said. “They are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes.”

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UNICEF says nutrition supplement programs have helped deliver vitamin A and iodized salt to vulnerable children in developing countries, boosting childhood mortality.

Mothers also are being urged to breast-feed their children for at least the first six months to provide key antibodies and nutrients.

Born download Reducing and eliminating malnutrition is feasible, according to the report, which calls on the international community to provide urgent help or face the consequences.

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“Global commitments on food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are part of a wider agenda that will help address the critical issues raised in this report,” said Ann Veneman, UNICEF’s executive director. “Unless attention is paid to addressing the causes of child and maternal undernutrition today, the costs will be considerably higher tomorrow.”

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Real Medicine Foundation is effectively working to eradicate malnutrition in India, the country with the highest malnutrition rates in the world, through treatment and prevention methods that focus on community involvement and education. Beaches dvd Find out more about what we are doing and how you can help: http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/initiatives/IN4-3-7.asp

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