HEALTH & NUTRITION
Community-Based Health Promotion Program(CBHPP)
The community-driven process which develops people’s abilities to adapt the power that is due over conditions affecting their health. CBHP methodology introduced as a practical application for caregivers to use them effectively to apply age-appropriate nutrition, health, and hygiene, and stimulation practices to ensure infant and young children aged 0-5 in the targeted deprived, excluded and vulnerable communities in four divisional secretariat divisions in Puttalam district targeting 160 lead mothers, 76 preschools (ECCD) teachers, 5536 of parents and caregivers, 156 of volunteers and 28 PHMs and PHIs. 2821 of children were impacted to grow in safe, secure, and stimulating environments achieved through holistic, age-appropriate development milestones.
Different forms of collaboration developed with international, national and local levels with Donors (ChildFund Sri Lanka), Provincial Department of Health, Scaleup Nutrition (SUN) Forum, Base hospital, MOH offices, District and Divisional Secretariats, Child Protection Authority, Department of Probation and Local governments for information sharing, implementation of interventions, advocacy, support to victims and their families and capacity development.
Community-Based Health promotion action aims at enabling people to achieve their fullest health potential while applying all healthy public policies by building supportive environments for health. Empowered communities are acting towards promoting, health is a potential and a powerful resource that utilized effectively. Personal skills are ensuring free exchange of information and experiences on health and provision of opportunities for lifetime learning.
Lead Mother as Change Agent
Lead Mothers are the asset of VOICE to sustain the health and nutrition program as an anchoring program embedded in the village level to restore modern knowledge in communities for generation to generation. Lead mothers engaged as changing agents of their communities by strengthening the capacities of relevant communities. lead mothers examine and evaluate how about parent’s knowledge in home environment for indigenous protein source, nutritive foods usage, impact for children for their weight gain and actively participation. 160 Lead mothers were the field activist of Community-Based Health Promotion Program (CBHPP) and Positive Deviance of hearth (PD Hearth) programs. Those results equally sharing at community symposiums to stimulate rest of the communities to eye open and adopt best practices in VOICE working areas targeting 36 preschool (ECCD) teachers, 5536 of parents and caregivers, 156 volunteers and 18 PHMs and 38 lead mother groups. 2821 of children were impacted to grow in safe, secure, and stimulating environments achieved through holistic and age-appropriate development milestones. Different forms of collaboration developed with stakeholders at local levels with Donors (ChildFund Sri Lanka), Base hospital, MOH offices, District and Divisional Secretariats, Child Protection Authority, Department of Probation, and Local governments for information sharing, implementation of interventions.
Community-Based Health Promotion Program(CBHPP)
Well capacitated Lead Mothers utilized as change agents of the community by equipping them on basic actions on preventing the NCD and improve the hygiene of the respective community. Necessary resource materials, tools, and equipment provided to monitor the progress of nutrition and hygiene that the community groups are unable to collect locally. 5 lead Mothers were technically capacitated by Medical Officer of Health to use basic equipment’s and tools to monitor blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, BMI, maintain personal hygiene, family planning, nutritive food preparation and selection, circulating health massages, preventive actions for NCD controlling and as a resource of basic first aid. Resource post / hub established in their own places of the lead mothers at community level
and use as a resource center for community awareness as the precaution before the consult the Doctor including separate room or corner in their home, allocated place in community hall or place in ECCD center. Targeting the most active 5 Lead Mothers, 18 preschool (ECCD) teachers, 2821 of parents and caregivers, 82 of volunteers and 8 PHMs. 1282 of children were impacted to grow in safe, secure and stimulating environments achieved through holistic, age-appropriate development milestones. MOH was the key stakeholder for capacity building, information sharing, implementation of interventions.
Hygiene practices promotion
Frequent communicable diseases and common non-communicable diseases been recurrently seen among children in the VOICE working area. Also, it is a much-known factor that frequent illnesses badly effect on the age-appropriate development and nutrition status of children. Poor knowledge of parents on hygienic practice, prevention, immediate response for illnesses, and service availability of health are the few reasons behind this issue. Therefore, by addressing this gap, awareness programs on hygiene practice and management of illness conducted in collaboration with MOHs of respective areas by targeting 40 lead mothers, 36 preschools (ECCD) teachers, 5536 of parents and caregivers, 156 of volunteers and 28 PHMs and PHIs. 2821 of children were impacted to grow in safe, secure, and stimulating environments achieved through holistic –
appropriate developmental milestones. A special monitoring tool introduced to families to monitor the frequency of illnesses of their children. The home environment of needy families will be improved into a safe & hygienic manner by VOICE through educating parents and providing required facilities to upgrade household conditions & kitchen spaces and constructing sanitary toilets. Members of the Lead Mothers’ monitored project activities with the guidance of health department officials. This was aligned with safe and caring environments for Infants and Young Children.
Positive Deviance Hearth (PD Hearth)
The regional disparity creates children more vulnerable while the prevalence rates of under-nutrition among children under 5 years of age are high. Data shows that 23% of children are underweight, 14.6% were stunted and 23.7% wasted. These are higher than the national figures for the same parameters. VOICE implemented the quick rehabilitation of malnourished children in VOICE working areas focusing 40 lead mothers, 36 preschools (ECCD) teachers, 5536 of parents and caregivers, 156 of volunteers, and 28 PHMs and PHIs. The most critical 56 children were impacted to recover from malnutrition, secure and stimulating environments achieved through holistic, age-appropriate development milestones by discovering local solutions. The Positive Deviance approach
helps community members discover that they already have the solutions to malnutrition with less outside resources. PD Hearth intervention is home and neighborhood-based nutrition program for children who are at risk for protein-energy malnutrition in a low resource community. The intervention uses the ‘Positive Deviance’ approach to identify those behaviors practiced by the mothers or caretakers of well-nourished children from poor families and transfers such positive practices to other mothers who are equally disadvantaged economically.
Positive Deviance Hearth intervention is designed to treat malnourished children, enable the families to sustain their rehabilitation at home on their own and to prevent malnutrition in younger siblings.