330 Kids Reach Nutrition and Development in Bogota

In the last six months of 2016, the Foundation increased the coverage of 320 families which suffered the most because of nutrition and social vulnerability. We have helped babies, not only in the nutritional part by providing them food but also through the constant nutritional monitoring with the help of the students that belong to the faculty of medicine from the Sabana University.  And the stimulation of babies with the help of the Colombian School of Rehabilitation, teaching the mothers and helping families which have members that suffer from psychomotor retardation.

40 pregnant mothers accessed the health service for prenatal care and had their babies in hospitals, 38 were born with adequate weight and size.

Through the following graphs you can see the changes that occurred throughout the year.

Graph #1: Weight vs. Age (0-2 years)

Global malnutrition decreased to only 2%, risk to global malnutrition to 11%, overweight and obesity to 0%. While the children began to level their weight with their age.

Graph #2: Size vs. Age (0-2 years)

The graph reflects how both, the delay in size and the risk in delay in size decreased. While the size suitable for the respective age increased.

Graph #3: Weight vs. Age (24-60 months)

Global malnutrition, overweight, and obesity decreased to 1%. While the children began to level their weight with their age such as those between 0 and 2 years old.

Graph #4: Size vs. Age (24-60 months)

The graph reflects how both, the delay in size and the risk in delay in size decreased. While the size suitable for the respective age increased. 

In recent months, the Foundation has increased the coverage to 300 mothers among pregnant women and children under 3 years, which constitute the target population with the higher levels of risk. The attention given to these families has been facilitated by the construction of a new headquarters, which is better for our daily operation. In addition, this year we had increased significantly the number of families in precarious social situations, involving risk housing, nutritional problems in children, pregnant and lactating, domestic violence, among others.

Thanks to the contributions from Global Giving and our other generous contributors, we have been able to offer escort services, including nutritional and psychosocial support for food security and network management that have allowed us to promote specific outcomes in each program.

Each program has generated the following impacts:

-          Pregnant Women: Through nutritional daily support, we increasingly add pregnant women in vulnerable situations, also receiving special workshops by our interns and volunteers towards follow a process of constant supervision with mothers and provide tools for raising their children.

-          Binomial Mother and Son: For our mother-child program perform basic learning workshops towards stimulating the emotional connection of mothers with their children and to bring their nutritional needs.

-           Management of inter-institutional networks: Thanks to the support of medical and administration schools of the Universidad de la Sabana, also programs of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Speech Therapy of the Colombian School of Rehabilitation, we offer a process to support mothers of Binomial program mother-Son, thereby strengthening the ties of mothers with their children and practicing skills and tools for the exercise of their maternal role, providing new methodologies and scenarios that enrich the daily lives of these families.

- International Volunteer Management: This was achieved by the American Solidarity Organizations and ECEY to have professionals in Nutrition, Psychology and Language.

- Taking of anthropometric and assessment of child development measures: This process allows us to have an accurate diagnosis of the nutritional situation of the children, in order to make nutrition strategies and monitoring to generate not only healthy habits, also a better quality of life.

In fact, the behavior of tracer indicators nutritionally (weight for height, height for age and body mass index), during the past two years confirms that the intervention process carried out by the Foundation allows a significant reduction in levels of acute malnutrition and anemia.