World Projects

SAVE has trained midwives to facilitate safe deliveries in a community 35,000 who are deprived of health facilities. The service is very much appreciated by the Government health department and they are cooperating. Save has provided 6 training sessions with 25 midwives in each session, also providing them with delivery kits. Then these trained midwives continued to instruct others and they have noticed a reduction in infant and maternal mortality.  Pictured here: An article about the project appeared in a Dhaka newspaper. CHF’s name and icon are on the poster.

 

Underprivileged Peoples’ Development Organization (UPPO) worked to prevent air- and water-borne diseases by installing double slab latrines. They were able to install latrines for 66 families in this aboriginal community. They then also get an economic benefit by selling the compost fertilizer manufactured by these unique latrines. They also held 100 courtyard meetings, 4 seminars, and 5 open discussions to build sanitation awareness. An article was run in the local newspaper. The director of the project expressed deep gratitude for our financial assistance and have applied for another grant this year.  (below)

UPPO has installed 50 removable, double-ring slab latrines among selected families with instructions. They have also held courtyard meetings to educate the villagers about health care and sanitation. Water-borne diseases have decreased 35%. The word has gone out and other NGO’s have taken up the cause. UPPO completed a similar project in 2014, funded by Child Health Foundation. (see above)

 

EPRC (Environmental and Population Research Center),financed by Esther Lazarson of New York City has completed the 18^th phase of the water project. Their recent report indicates that they have installed 7 new tubewells serving an additional 1250 people, 300 of them children. These folks all live within 50 meters of the wells. The total number served now since the project began in 2003 is 40,000+. Some of the funds were used to install latrines for very poor families to prevent open defecation. Other EPTC funds were used to continue classes for school children unassisted by the government and for education of women since they were now free from carrying water from the river. A volunteer group from each option area, called Women for Environment and Livelihood (WEL) was formed to overlook care of the tubewells as well as being instructed in sanitation and health.

Dip Unnayan Society (DUS), District Bhola, Bangladesh. One of our 2006 Small Grant recipients, set out to improve the health status of poor children through facilitating affordable environmental sanitation projects. They hoped to achieve the 100% sanitization coverage of 15 villages. By involving community based organization, they trained leaders in basic health and hygiene practices such as washing hands, using safe water, and covering food. They discouraged open defecation, encouraging instead the building and use of low-cost latrines, which were demonstrated on site.

As a result of their efforts, 15 villages reached the 100% use of hygienic latrines and maintained them well. They also abided by the instruction to follow the other health practices. The important thing, they say, is that the people see themselves as a community whose members affect and support each other. And now those communities act as facilitators for other communities and so spread the message.

Operation ASHA are combining grassroots care and technology to increase tuberculosis detection in children. Working with the heads of schools in Phnom Penn, they selected 33 schools and the surrounding communities. They conducted awareness training with the teachers and followed that with screening of the students.  When a child is diagnosed positive, they provided a full course of treatment and counselling in the homes. The grant provides 6 months of free treatment. Of the 33 thousand children screened, 53 tested positive; 2 have completed treatment. They also trained 805 teachers on basic facts of detecting TB, treatment and referral information.
Dem and Touch are the two children who have completed the 6 months of treatment after being enrolled in the national tuberculosis program. Both regained their appetites, gained weight and were more active.  ASHA noted finally that the project would not have been possible without the support of the Child Health Foundation. We are of course pleased.

Reaching Out to China
Dr. Tim Shi, a Child Health Foundation Board Member and the Executive Director of GlobalMD, along with Board Member, Dr. William Greenough, organized a course for public health workers in China. This was sponsored by the Child Health Foundation.

With the purpose of acquainting them with the current advances in diarrhea management and oral rehydration therapy, the course involved about 300 participants and was hosted by the regional leading pediatrics hospital.

Pre-and post-surveys were done to assess the improvement and the activity was deemed a huge success.

The Country Director of WHO China participated and is interested in collaborating the local Chinese health authorities to further the initiative.

Aguayuda  A project, designed to improve health for children and their families, sought to reduce water-related illnesses.Their results included the successful installation of 196 of the 200 hand washing stations (Tippy-taps), benefitting families of 13 indigenous communities and one school.  This benefited 1,360 people, 600 of them children. Residents of the 13 communities were provided training in water management, proper hygiene and sanitation and the prevention of water-related illness through a series of 5 day workshops, and in 7 of the targeted communities, community WASH committees were established.  In addition, a total of 14 hand-washing training sessions were carried out.  Survey results at the end of the project pointed to a 42% reduction in instances of diarrhea in participating households. This was determined by a survey using a mobile phone app called Magpi.

 

 

Fundacion NC has a project called Social Responsibility Program. With their Asmamovil, a mobile health unit, in Bogota they screen children in schools to determine risks for respiratory disease. Two public schools were selected to set up the activities and the aim was to improve asthma control, reduce ER visits, and improve quality of life for the children and caregivers. They reported previously that they did screening, baseline medical and lung function, and education. A total of 24 children have now completed the evaluation; others also benefited even though they didn’t follow through completely due to various reasons. They discovered that ER visits were reduced from 32 to 1 and days missed from school 127 days to just 11. Questionnaires filled out at the outset and conclusion revealed that improvement of quality of life was statistically significantly for both child and caregiver. Furthermore there was an increase in the knowledge to manage the disease of 30 to 35 percent. They close with this thought, “The program will continue its activities thanks to organizations like CHF who care about the health of communities in need.”

 

Butoke, in Western Kasai submitted a final report on a program creating a core of resource persons and trainers embedded in the base communities to become competent to enlighten youth and adults on responsible sexuality in the light of faith and science. HIV/AIDS is a very prevalent problem there.

The number of workshops jumped to 16 from a previous 4 with a total of 1400 participants, and they are very well accepted and promote lively discussion. The discussions have also alerted them to the link between human rights of both women and children and the contradictions between the customs and these rights.

They feel that for now they have an adequate number of trainers to go back to their parishes and temples to give sound advice to teens.

A new project being carried out by Butoke has made help possible to women who have been raped. Because of the political tension in this country and the influx of refugees, women have been terrorized, especially by Congolese troops. The organization will care for the raped victims, but also work to prevent rape by organizing broadcasts and face-to-face discussions on the rights of women. Then they hope to help the victims reintegrate into society by giving them micro-credit and helping them to help themselves.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (2009 Humanitarian Grant) built a bathroom and designed a septic system to improve sanitation for an orphanage housing Haitian refugee children.
Because the flow of refugees from Haiti, still trying to recover from the earthquake and cholera epidemic, has been considered a threat to the Dominican Republic, the government has been deporting Haitians. This has caused them to go undercover.

Yet they have been able to gather additional support for constructing a kitchen and more dormitory space. They say the bathroom construction had the effect of encouraging this support. We are pleased to have had a part in this endeavor.

Click here to download report >

Kossoye Development Project KDP (See below) has completed another project. They came to six conclusions as a result of a study to determine if household gardening is making significant nutritional improvement in children’s growth. 900 school children were measured for height and weight. 1. The children in the poorest, rural areas were the most likely to use the seeds to plant gardens.  2. In rural areas, having gardens contributed to eating vegetables, both gardening and eating increasing over time. 3. Females responded more positively than males to the education program. 4. The children most likely to eat vegetables were in urban schools, due perhaps to access to markets, food culture, or to other factors. 5. While evidence demonstrated that the children’s heights and weights increased over time, the analysis of this evidence did not establish that having a vegetable garden and eating vegetables affected height and weight.  Further research may tease out a clearer conclusion, especially if data analysis is controlled for age. 6. Finally, the KDP’s nutrition and gardening program is effective in increasing vegetable eating and household gardening.  This finding underscores the importance of the education program.  It should be noted that the study was interrupted several times by political conflict.

A 2009 survey discovered that almost 15 million children living in sub-Saharan Africa had lost one or more of their parents to AIDS. The Ethiopian Orphan Health Foundation has reached 91 of these children, living with grandparents, or with someone with a chronic illness, to provide healthcare and health education.

Using traditional coffee ceremonies (a total of 50), popcorn and biscuits, facilitators initiated discussions about HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. The youth felt free in this context to share experiences and learn from one another.

A peer education program incorporated dramas that feature local poems and music about HIV/AIDS, which empowered the youth to discover themselves, their friends, their community and their world.

Four local Community Health Workers were recruited and trained by government leaders to provide health education to children and their families. These CHWs made house to house visits teaching about hygiene, and managing diarrhea, malaria, trachoma, and other health subjects.

This excellent report is on our website in its entirety for your perusal.

Click here to download report >

Kossoye Project in Ethiopia gave tetracycline eye ointment treatment to everyone in the village for 6 days/month for 6 months, and taught them to wash regularly around the eyes and nostrils and to maintain sanitary latrines to control the flies that spread the infections. They have completed another year (2005 and 2006 Small Grants) of their intervention to reduce the prevalence of eye infections (especially trachoma) by 50% in children under age 10.

Their other objectives were to establish early use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for diarrheal disease, to train child care givers in preventing malnutrition and to prepare older elementary girls in the ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

The project was a great success, reduction of trachoma prevalence from 94% to 26%, widespread use of ORT, and improved knowledge of STD among. students in the school. The only disappointment has been signs that severe stunting malnutrition has become worse. Hope is that the new interest in vegetable gardens that have been planted will help with this problem. They also provide income for other family needs and are a sustainable way to help families help themselves. They continue to plant gardens with other funds and plan to evaluate the children during the next two years.

Ghanaian Mother’s Hope, (2011 grant): We received their final report which is called “The Secret to Being Strong” and features a coloring book given to children at school to teach them how to control their health to prevent intestinal worms. Debi Frock, the American executive director, says, “The Child Health Foundation grant helped to share the secret of good health with 1,778 children and 150 women.” The group also used story and song to promote the message.

Poor Rural Children’s Education Aid (PRUCHED AID) in Ghana completed a very successful project to improve the personal hygiene of school children and prevent HIV/AIDS through education. They held five workshops during which 1200 children from ten schools participated in hand-washing with soap, proper tooth brushing, and the important reasons for good personal hygiene. The children were also instructed in the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, and how to avoid them.
Each child was provided with soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and the schools were given bowls, towels and table-stands. Creative drama and poetry booklets were prepared for the teachers to take back to their schools to reinforce disease-preventive sexual behavior. Complete report and drama booklet available upon request.

Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope, Inc. in Ghana, a 2007 Small Grant recipient, conducted 3 educational information workshops on health, hygiene, first-aid, nutrition and oral-rehydration (ORS). Children were then monitored for one year and an immunization program was provided for those children whose immunizations were not up to date.

The program which included, in part, instruction on breastfeeding and weaning, cooking demonstrations, and hand-washing instruction, as well as disease prevention and treatment with ORS was well received by the mothers who demonstrated a great need for such information. The children whose parents received instruction all gained in height and weight. Visibly, they showed fewer signs of malnourishment.

The Program has had a positive impact on the health of the children and with the involvement of the Ghanaian Health officials, programs like this will continue in other villages.

Watch this video to observe the visuals of this important project.

The organization Wuqu’ Kawoq has undertaken a study to determine the cause of childhood malnutrition. They enrolled 215 children under the age of 15 and discovered a high rate of stunting, i.e., low height-forage. They have also demonstrated high rates of anemia in children younger than 5 years, and that these data underscore the need to intervene at a much earlier age. Intervening has significantly improved the children’s growth.

All children over the age of 6 mo. were given micronutrients and iron as necessary, as well as treatment for worm infection. A caloric supplementation (Incaparina) was also given to those who needed it, supplying about 20% of daily requirement.

Their initial surveillance data has confirmed their hypothesis that child malnutrition is routinely underestimated by reliance on weight-for-age measurement. Having instituted a program that targets stunting in a cost-effective manner, the program has had great success. They are now qualified to be consultants to other NGOs, plan to find funding to continue, and are preparing to publish in medical journals.

Chapra Social and Economic Welfare Association (SEWA), West Bengal, India called their project Prevention of Endemic Enteric Diseases with Community Participation. They have held 30 group meetings with 600 adolescents in 30 villages for selecting peer leaders. Ten from each village were chosen and instructed on issues dealing with hygiene, toilet habits, and care of food. 1,250 children of 30 villages have been motivated to work with their families on these issues. Some 96% of these children consented enthusiastically to take part in door to door campaigns. The group also held meetings with mothers and pregnant women encouraging them in better food management, boiling water, taking children for immunizations, and registering for safe delivery. As a result 75% of 1862 pregnant women visited health centers for early registration.

SEWA had a project with CHF funding in 2010. (see below)

Chapra Social and Economic Welfare Association very successfully improved the lives of a community by training mothers to train mothers. Some 292 Young Mothers (some pregnant) were involved in the project and as result a group of 94 mothers were trained to assist community mothers in regards to early registration, complete immunization and institutional deliveries.

As a result:

No maternal death has been registered because 94% (145 pregnancy out of 153) were immunized within 12 weeks of pregnancy; No child death was recorded during the year because of timely child immunization, 107 (87%) and exclusive breast feeding (81%); Eighty-one percent (99 out of 122) deliveries were done in the institution during the year and the remaining were done at home by trained Birth Attendants in villages; and 119 (98%) babies received breast milk within 2 hours of delivery. The trust that the community has in this organization is reflected in this success.

Rural Health Organization (RHO) (Manipur) received a 2010 Humanitarian Grant to organize health education covering nutrition, immunizations, and common diseases. They conducted month-long training program to introduce better healthcare skills to local midwives.

They learned to use the blood pressure and thermometer equipment, the importance of sterilizing instruments, and preparation of oral rehydration salts.

Physical exams of children were also carried out (see picture) and parents were given nutritional information, as well as immunization advice. Pregnant women were provided with iron, folic acid, and vitamin A.

On follow-up, it was learned that children’s health was better, pregnant women were following nutrition instructions and there have been no reports of maternal death.

RPDS: (Humanitarian) The objective of this organization was to increase awareness on health and hygiene through education. They were able to reach 400 adults and 360 children by training 20 Community Health Volunteers to hold workshops, visit the slums and hand out pamphlets. They taught preventing enteric illnesses by encouraging the drinking of clean water, storing it properly, and hand washing.

 

Grampari, Maharashtra, (see previous project below) has worked with 9 new and 4 previous schools, targeting a total of 1,034 students to introduce and follow up with the Tippy-Tap. This hand-washing device has been erected and maintained in 15 villages, 13 schools and 423 homes which means that 63% of the students have built the tippy-tap in their homes. Their target is 70%. “We celebrated Global Handwash Day with fanfare,” they wrote. Game stalls and a drawing competition were part of the fun with handwash instructions and demonstrations. 490 students and 29 parents took part. In the photo, the children are singing “Dotsi” a handwashing song.

Grampari, Maharashtra, a rural developmental organization, reported a very successful end to their 2011 project. Over 250 children in 5 schools were reached with a hand hygiene awareness program. A health education team visited each school 6 times over 4 months introducing new approaches to promote handwashing, such as the tippy tap (pictured here), skits, demonstrations, and songs. Analysis of the data showed a 24% increase in handwashing, a 14% increase with soap (1 school had a 47% increase). 77 tippy taps were built by students at their homes. Based on these results, they were able to refine the program and conduct it this year for 1900 children in 23 schools. They then posted it on a website (www.tippytap.org) to aid other public health practitioners and are getting responses from all over the world. Student “health ministers” were elected in each school to maintain the tippy tap and see that it is used properly.

Tippy tap is a hands-free, low-cost, water conserving handwashing device. The important feature is that it is FUN! Children use their feet to make the water flow and the soap hangs on a rope. They have another small grant project funded in 2013.

The Rural And Urban Women’s Welfare Organisation (RUWWO), Tamil Nadu, set out successfully to educate the community about how to prevent and treat diarrhea. They reached 400 mothers in 20 villages, 500 mothers-in law, and 50 school teachers with lessons about drinking clean water and administering oral rehydration therapy. They also held a training program for 20 water source management workers. By the end of the year, they report that there were no deaths from diarrhea in the past three months in 20 villages. Also, there was a considerable decrease in the belief of unscientific information and bad omen practice.

They expect this change in practice and attitudes to continue because they have in place leaders of self-help groups and periodical inspection of water sources. The good news will pass on to other areas by word of mouth of those pleased with their better health.

Sundar Serendipity Foundation, Tamil Nadu, conducted a study to determine if using a multiple micronutrient fortified salt in cooking would supply what is needed to prevent anemia.

“Aim: To combat multiple micronutrient deficiencies using a multiple micronutrient fortified crystal salt enriched with Iron, iodine, Vitamin B12, folic acid and zinc.

Methods: A Randomized controlled study on children aged 5 to 17 years and all the women, with the households in the experimental villages being provided the fortified salt and no intervention in the control villages for 8 months.

Results: There was a significant improvement in all the iron parameters and serum zinc in the experimental group when compared with the control. These improvements were statistically significant. There was a significant decrease in the prevalence of anemia from 67.5% to 29.1% and zinc deficiency from 32.7% to 12.4% in the experimental group. There was no change in urinary iodine in the experimental group whereas it decreased significantly in the control group.

Conclusion: The multiple micronutrient fortified crystal salt has been able to reduce the prevalence of anaemia and zinc deficiency and improve hemoglobin, serum ferritin stores, body iron stores and serum zinc and maintain urinary iodine at the same levels in the population which consumed the fortified salt.”

Spandan (Odisha) received a grant to determine the effectiveness of the delivery of anthelmentics in the treatment of worms. In their final report they say that they selected 30 sample villages, covering 1000 families (1256 children) aged 1 to 5 yrs . Another 1218 children in another village served as controls. Albandizole was the drug used and it was administered in de-worming camps in phase one in July 2011. When the camps in phase two were held in Feb. 2012, the community was much more cooperative because they could already see that it had taken effect. The results were assessed using weight and height, days of sickness, school attendance, and motivation.

The results showed a significant positive change in the children in the sample village as compared to the controls. The organization will continue to implement the delivery of treatment and efforts are now being made to have the government implement treatment as a part of regular immunizations of children.

Education and Micronutrients
The Family Health and Development Research Foundation has filed a very impressive final report of their work since they received the 2007 Small Grant. Their randomized study aimed to establish the effectiveness of a multiple micronutrient fortified salt in addressing Vitamin A and other deficiencies in children, compared to health education and traditional health care alone.

Three groups of children (about 215 in each) were studied, the one receiving the micronutrient salt, the second given nutrition education, and the third was the control. All three were given health care.

Laboratory results concluded that both nutrition education and fortification were able to reduce anemia, but retinol deficiency needed the micronutrient salts. The investigators felt that more time with good nutrition is needed to accomplish this. They also hope to publish the study and extend what they have learned to other communities.

Paribartan in Orissa is providing training on the use of zinc therapy to reduce the severity of diarrhea. Twenty villages with a population of about 5,000 were targeted. Seventy-five AHSAs (Accredited health activists) and 60 Community Health Workers were trained, during a 5-day program, to counsel mothers to begin oral rehydration therapy on onset of diarrhea and continue breastfeeding, and to provide a 2-week supply of zinc supplementation. They were also instructed to inform them about the signs for seeking emergency care immediately.

This work takes place in the tribal areas where the government health programs do not reach. The good news is that the efforts by this organization have interested the government and Paribartan has been given recognition and visibility. And now the government is introducing Zinc in their treatment of diarrhea too.

 

Alternate Energy
In Orissa, Sahara, receiving one of our 2008 Innovative Small Grants, has installed solar lighting in 4 villages. The homes of 221 children have disposed of their kerosene lamps. Thus:

• 62 households are saving Rs. 80-100/month (not buying kerosene),
• 221 children are able to study for longer periods,
• School attendance has improved and dropouts have decreased.
• Health of the children has improve (no CO² from kerosene), and
• Accidental fires have been reduced.

The organization is publishing brochures and manuals to distribute to other regions, and have trained youth to maintain the lamps. We are pleased with this very successful project.

 

 

 

National Institute of Health Research and Development has completed their project to reduce the prevalence of children suffering from worm infections by introducing a safe and effective deworming program at low cost. 204 children were tested for worm infestation and of those 91 were positive and 95% of those treated recovered. Most were under 5 years of age. The treatment used was Curcuma, a natural plant easily found in Indonesia. The mothers were also instructed about the importance of treatment as well as the method for preparing the plant. NIHRD recommends twice yearly treatment for all children. Examination of stools then becomes unnecessary.

Kodera:   The project conducted a survey to verify open defecation in 4 villages where the project team visited 219 households and found that 41% practiced this. 15 sanitation promoters were trained in making Arbor-Loo toilets from locally available materials.    The encouragement of households and schools to plant fruit trees in old arbor-loo pits for children nutrition improvement has not been successful as it was perceived to contain disease-causing pathogens. “The results of the project has been shared with the public, County Government and other WASH stakeholders during 2018 world toilet day event in Migori County where we showcased arbor-loo toilet, interaction and informational leaflets,” they concluded.

 

 

 

ACE: Nutritional sack gardens for good health among women and children project. They established  a community-based mothers’ and infant’s center which focused on providing nutritional education and counseling for mothers, regarding health and nutrition information in helping their young children to be healthier; and teaching mothers in slums. Their innovative idea about sack gardening has met most of its objectives, the benefit being that much can be grown in a very small area. The A total of 100 women were trained concerning the gardening for two days. They also trained 30 Community Health Workers about breastfeeding, complementary feeding, feeding sick/malnourished infants and young children, and infant feeding in the context of HIV, as well as maternal nutrition. The sack gardens described: The area around the can, which is inside a bag, is filled with soil, stones, and rocks. Water is poured through the rocks (there are holes in the can).  Seedlings are planted in holes made in the sides and top of the sack .

 

 

USAWA Development Initiatives:  Their goal was to improve the health status of children in Busia County by surveying homes to determine the causes of typhoid, cholera, and other diarrheas, training teachers and others about sanitation, constructing pit latrines, Tippy-taps, and water tanks. In total, 200 homes were visited and information gathered. Enteric and respiratory diseases were rampant in the villages This was as a result of unclean drinking water and failure to adhere to hygiene practices. The other cause was use of unclean water in washing foodstuffs and consumption of unwashed fruits by the children.  A total of 26 people were trained on proper sanitation and water management. Latrines were constructed in 3 schools,  Tippytaps constructed in 13 schools, and water storage tanks installed in 8 schools.

Tenwek Hospital has a program called Helping Babies Breathe that has provided training for 180 neonatal care providers in Kenya and Tanzania at 4 sites and 6 master trainers have been trained at 2 different sites that will continue to teach HBB and sustain education programs. (HBB is a curriculum for neonatal resuscitation designed to train health providers in low-resource settings). The team saw a dramatic drop in birth asphyxia in these first 3 months and they report now that this drama has continued. The PI, Dr. Rule, an American doctor, hopes to continue to work with the obstetric team in designing further endeavors. In the meantime, she is writing the final manuscript for education and quality improvement projects. She says, “The project has been presented at multiple meetings at Cincinnati Children’s hospital and both papers have been submitted for presentation at Pediatric Academic Societies in the Spring of 2016.” She hopes this project will be a model for other low-resource settings to save newborns and mothers.

 

Wema Self Help Group educated the residents of a slum area about treating their contaminated drinking water with Waterguard, an inexpensive, locally available sodium hypochlorite solution, which they provided. Then they encouraged them to store the water in affordable clay pots with lids.  It was also necessary to teach the children to wash their hands before eating.  They partnered with a community medical clinic to collect data about the incidence of diarrhea and discovered that there was a significant drop in visits after the project implementation, improving health and saving the family funds. This encouraged the community to continue treating their water.  They have reached over 6,000 children in the selected area and another 1,200 primary school children. This is their final report.

 

 

 

Opportunity Solutions International received a 2010 Small Grant. They are developing innovative ways to distribute and ensure the use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria.

They have been able to train a staff of surveyors and identify a region in the rainforest which is underserved. But the project has been delayed because they are developing a new technology to monitor the use of nets.

Mali Health has worked to improve child survival with increased access to primary care for the poor, increase the communities capacity to respond to health needs, and develop a replicable model of primary care services. They write, “The training of community health workers reinforced their behavior change communications and medical techniques, such as ORS preparation (see picture), malnutrition screening, and detecting respiratory infections.” Then “approximately 450 mothers and caregivers from our beneficiary families have been trained in how to prepare ORT through small group demonstrations.” They managed to have 200 children admitted and treated at their partner health centers, supporting the treatment of malaria, respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases.

Their latest activity involved gave demonstrations on access to clean water, impacting 1600 children. Further, it is believed that about 6,000 children under 5 years received immunizations (a government program) because the organization funded 30 CHWs to spread the word, especially about the national campaign against polio. An article was printed in the official newspaper. The headlines in French: L’ong Mali Health et Child Health Foundation Viennent En Soutien Aux Enfants Vulnerabbles Dans Les Zones Periurbaines Du Mali.

Mali Health Organizing Project sent their final report of work they have done which they entitled, Action for Health. This project which has been throughout the year working with families to seek early care when their children are ill by taking them to a free clinic accompanied by a Community Health Worker (CHW), and the importance of immunizations, bednets, and hand-washing. 800 children were enrolled.

The primary purpose of the study was to educate the mothers to take responsibility for their children’s health. CHWs were important in this venture. The final activity was to interview the mothers to evaluate how much they had retained.

The investigators hoped to reduce prevalence of common illnesses with this activity, but unfortunately they are not there yet. A dent has been made but they have a way to go to meet their goal. We are pleased with progress they have made so far and hope they can continue.

The Center of Research in Food and Development (CIAD) received two more grants in 2009.

1. Iron and Zinc are important nutrients in adolescence. During this period, the demand increases because of accelerated growth. CIAD is in an area of NW Mexico where the prevalence of this nutrient deficiency was recorded to be higher than the national average. This study set out to investigate the iron status and zinc levels in adolescent women (174 agreed to participate) to establish their association with dietary consumption and absorption inhibitors.

The researchers found that there was a low prevalence of anemia in the girls, but the high prevalence of low serum zinc levels and low consumption of zinc was significant and must be attended to. They are hoping that the government that gives supplements to pregnant women will see the importance and include adolescent women. The Foundation is very pleased with this excellent final report.

2. Another project by CIAD has sent a final report of their very well done study educating school children about good health and then collecting data to determine how effective it was. They had received a Small Grant from the Foundation in 2006 and used information from that study to carry out this one.

Stool samples were processed and data concerning socioeconomics, parental education, household condition and income were collected at the beginning and then nine months later. The educative process consisted of four topics: 1. Feeding and hygiene
2. Environmental care
3. Prevention of gastrointestinal infection
4. Self approval

A questionnaire was designed to identify changes in the children’s behavior.

The study was implemented in one suburban and one urban school with 245 and 324 schoolchildren respectively. Two other schools (1 urban and one suburban) were controls.

The purpose of the study was to determine if these strategies would improve the health of the children, i.e., reduce the intestinal parasites infections. The investigators found that indeed most infections were reduced in the suburban schools, but did not see any reduction in the urban schools. This they believe may relate to poor participation and low parent availability.

Other successful outcomes include adoption of more healthy food for sale during break time.

Emergency Relief
Between the first of January 2009 through August 2009, Direct Relief received $22,759 in Ceralyte donated by Child Health Foundation that was distributed to locally managed health facilities in 19 countries suffering from natural disasters. Later they dispatched a second round of aid for residents of Baja California affected by Hurricane Jimena earlier this month. Oral rehydration solutions, manufactured and supplied by Cera Products Inc, are one of the most requested items during emergencies, when water supplies are compromised and diarrhea is epidemic. Dehydration can become fatal if not treated.