Reducing Child Malnutrition with healthy meals

Malnourishment is a silent killer that does not spare even the lives of little children. It is one of the major causes of death of children under the age of five.

Malnutrition is the cause of death of close to half the children in Asia and Africa below five years.

Insufficient nutrition increases susceptibility to various infections and leads to delayed recovery. Three important factors that estimate malnourishment are stunting (low height with respect to age), wasting (low weight for height) and underweight (low weight for age).

Malnourishment in childhood reduces the quality of adulthood

The first 1000 days of a child’s life decide if the child is more likely to be healthy or suffer from malnutrition. This means to say that, poor nutrition of a mother during her pregnancy could lead to a stunted childhood. These stunted children tend to be shorter and weaker. They often have impaired mental development and also tend to perform low in school making them more likely to take up low-payment jobs. Hence, they are unable to provide for their children.

Thus it is imperative to work towards nourishing the present generation of children so that they can contribute directly to the health of the next one. 

According to the World Bank, close to 1/3^rd of stunted children (below 5 years), live in India.

PM POSHAN Abhiyaan (earlier known as the MidDay Meal Scheme) is one intervention that could reduce these numbers drastically.

           

Let us take the example of person ‘X’ from a low-income family. He is a daily-wage worker whose salary or savings is not enough to take care of his wife and children. To become a helping hand to the family’s financial situation, he sends his child to work so that he can get some more money for the family’s food. He does not give a choice to his child to choose.

 

Now, let’s think of another situation where ‘Y’ is a daily-wage worker who is struggling to make ends meet to feed his family of three (along with his wife and child). They are aware of the Government’s MDM scheme and send their child to a nearby Government school with the thought that at least the child will be able to enjoy one proper, wholesome meal once a day. By doing so, they are playing a major role in the child’s education too. These school meals become a reason for the child to attend school without missing even a single day.

 

This is the power of school meals.

Midday meals (MDM) served as a part of this programme not only give an incentive for parents to send their children to school but also become a reason for children to get educated for the long term.

Providing nutrition; food for children

Mid-day meals become a source of nutrition in children. They help in their physical and cognitive development. How?

Here’s how:

•         School meals take care of all the essential nutritional requirements of a child. It helps the child develop in a healthy manner. These meals provided as a part of the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan, take care of carbohydrates, essential fats, proteins, fortified salt, etc.
•         Meals nourish children inside-out, providing them with the right energy to expend it by participating in various sports and co-curricular activities. A well-nourished child can play well when compared to a malnourished child.
•         It reduces risk the of diseases providing good immunity. Meals prevent diseases like anaemia, partial blindness and give them the strength to fight common diseases like cold, flu, etc.
•         Free school meals give them access to education. When children start coming to school on a regular basis, they also get tuned to receiving education on a daily basis.

NGOs play a major role in the implementation the of provision of mid-day meals. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such organisation that helps children from low-income sections gain the above benefits. It has been serving school meals since 2000 and has grown from feeding 1,500 children to close to 2 million children every day.

Donate online to such NGOs that play an important role to nourish children. You never know how your help could transform the lives of either children or their families or a community on the whole.

Extend your support in whichever way possible. Because no support is small help, it has the potential to change lives.

Kitchen With A Heart- Vasanthapura, Bengaluru

 This film explores the other facets of an Akshaya Patra kitchen besides brick, mortar and steel. It explores hope, compassion, service and the lives connected to the kitchen, as part of a community.

Know more: https://bit.ly/3S7QAS5 

Akshaya Patra Kitchen | Bhuj, Gujarat

 

The film is about the Akshaya Patra kitchen in Bhuj, Gujarat. Currently, Bhuj kitchen serves hot, nutritious, safe and tasty mid-day meal to 23,500 children every day in 177 schools across the Bhuj region.

Know more : https://bit.ly/3SoCR99

A Story of Transformation | Geetha L Olekar

 

This film is a glimpse into the life of Geetha L Olekar, an associate implementation engineer working at Q2 Software. Geetha was a beneficiary of the mid-day meal programme, implemented by The Akshaya Patra Foundation, during her school days. She also received scholarships facilitated by Akshaya Patra. The scholarships helped Geetha complete her higher studies. 

Know more: https://bit.ly/3BGQIkg

Feed people in Hunger Action Month I Akshaya Patra

 

This Hunger Action Month, use this opportunity to take a firm stand to make Zero Hunger possible with Akshaya Patra. Support to fight all forms of hunger by providing nutritious meals with your contribution. 

Feed people in Hunger Action Month

Back To School - Power of Hot Meals | Akshaya Patra Foundation

Eighth standard student of GMPS Unkal, Karnataka, Sinchana S, is extremely happy to be back to school after months. While at home, she missed her friends, teachers, the hot lunch, games and fun. “I am happy that I can come back to school. I can now enjoy with my friends, study and eat well. I don’t like eating vegetables at home but the vegetables that we get in school for lunch is very tasty and I eat them without any fuss,” she says.

Know more : https://www.akshayapatra.org/video-gallery/back-to-school-power-of-hot-meals

Importance of nutrition for children

 

Effects of hunger on children. Beat it by donating to charities

 

When you think of hunger, your mind immediately paints a black and white picture of a child probably in tattered clothes scurrying for food here and there.

Sadly, this is true and very uncomfortable.

India is home to 33 lakh undernourished children, out of which 17.7 lakh of them are severely malnourished.

For most of us, hunger is only about skipping a meal. But, in reality, hunger is much more than a missed meal and grumbling stomach.

Hunger is a vicious cycle that only makes room for hungrier children and it is unending. 

What happens when a child is hungry for a long term?

If a child is hungry, depending on the stage of hunger, h/she is categorised as suffering from:

• ·         Acute hunger
• ·         Chronic hunger
• ·         Hidden hunger

Acute hunger is when a child is undernourished for a definable time, for example, during wars and disasters. Chronic hunger is a form of hunger that is associated with poverty where they lack sufficient funds for healthy food. Hidden hunger is a form of hunger that results from an unbalanced diet where initially, the symptoms are not identifiable but in the long-term lead to nutritional deficiencies and illnesses.

Apart from these physical deficiencies and illnesses, children who stay hungry for a long time suffer from mental incapability like forgetfulness, decreased attention span and inability to remember long term memories, resulting in decreased academic scores. 

Make charity donations to defeat hunger in children

NGOs target the grass root levels to eradicate all forms of hunger - acute, chronic and hidden. Some of them even go back to nourishing the mother who carries children – pregnant, nursing and new mothers.

Donating to these NGOs to nourish mothers and their children also makes you eligible to gain tax deductions. 

Your tax deductible donations are either eligible for 50% or 100% tax exemption depending on the registration of the non-profit organisation.

Every charity wants to be the best NGO to donate to because the cause they fight for is so genuine. Also, the impact that donors’ contribution has on the beneficiaries is truly appreciable. Here is a story of a young school child who has beaten the ill effects of malnourishment.

Sachin, a Class 6 student at Hanspal Primary School, dreams of becoming a pilot. He suffered from malnutrition and stunting during his initial days of school. He was never able to focus in class and was weak and lifeless. But after getting regular meals at school, he blossomed into an attentive student who performed well and is a favourite of all the teachers.

Beating all the forms of hunger, he says his school lunch has changed him inside out. Adding to it, he says he prefers school meals to the food he gets to eat at home.

Sachin is a mid-day meal beneficiary of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in India that serves nutritious meals every day. It has the distinction of being the world's largest NGO-run school lunch programme, serving freshly cooked nutritious meals to over 1.8 million children in 19,039 schools in 14 states and 2 union territories.

Make charity donations to this organisation to end classroom hunger in children studying in Government and Government-aided schools. Your tax deductible donations support food and education of children whose parents cannot afford one square meal a day. Help many more children like Sachin, to break the unending cycle of hunger by feeding them with Akshaya Patra.

This September, Stand Against Hunger

 

We are lucky!
We get to choose what we want to eat and when.
But, for individuals coming from families where being hungry and not getting food is a norm, they must decide whether they can afford to eat or not.
For such people, it is a tough choice to make between, food, electricity, water, medicine, education and other needs.

“Nobody should be forced to make a choice to go hungry,”

                     -  Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America

The whole month of September is celebrated as Hunger Action Month, where people across the world come together to support a movement to end hunger in all forms. With public and Government support, we can achieve unachievable tasks like helping these disadvantaged communities achieve long-term security so that they don’t have to choose between food and other things.

Feed to defeat hunger and all its forms

Over 828 million people suffer from various forms of hunger. Food is a human right, but, does every individual have the access to good food? The answer is NO! They suffer from hunger in either of the levels detailed below:

Acute Hunger

Acute hunger is a condition when a person is undernourished over a definable. This is an extreme form of hunger that arises during crises like the pandemic, wars, disasters, etc. This form of hunger generally affects people who already suffer from chronic hunger.

 

Chronic Hunger

Chronic hunger is a state of long-term undernourishment. This form of hunger is generally associated with a lack of sufficient funds for healthy and clean food along with water and/or healthcare. This form of hunger is not condition-specific but is the most widespread form of hunger across the globe as it is linked with poverty.

 

Hidden Hunger

Hidden hunger is a form of chronic hunger that is a result of an unbalanced diet, where important nutrients like zinc, iron, iodine and vitamins are not present in the food consumed. Initially, these findings are not visible at first glance, however, over a long period, these nutrient deficiencies lead to long-term illnesses.

This Hunger Action Month, feed the needy people with an NGO in India that takes care of all the nutritional requirements of an individual, be it an infant, toddler, teenager or adult.

Hunger and Poverty – A vicious circle

Feed underprivileged people, so that they know the importance of food, get educated in order to earn and fend for themselves and their families so that they can get good and healthy food to eat. It is an unending circle that can be broken only by wholesome meals.

Feed to defeat hunger with Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that has dedicated itself to feeding wholesome meals to school children coming from underprivileged backgrounds and studying in Government and Government-aided schools of India. By working in partnership with various Governments, District Authorities, volunteers and its donor family, the organisation has been actively involved in various feeding initiatives since 2000.

During this Hunger Action Month, Akshaya Patra has taken to feeding mid-day meal beneficiaries under the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan, homeless mothers, people living in night shelters, expecting and nursing mothers and disaster-struck victims who are affected by floods, earthquakes, pandemics, etc.

Donate online to show your humanitarian side with your generosity to feed people.
This September, let’s make food accessible to everyone. Together, we can make Zero Hunger possible by feeding to eliminate all forms of hunger.

Celebrate International Day of Charity with Akshaya Patra

 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation launched its 63rd, 64th & 65th kitchens in 2022