This project aims to expand Real Medicine Foundation's lifesaving nutrition and hygiene work in rural Madhya Pradesh, India by 1) training and equipping more tribal women as community educators and 2) training and equipping women and adolescent girls to produce reusable sanitary pads. Women learn how to preserve their health and that of their children, while adolescent girls gain knowledge to keep them in school during menstruation, greatly improving their chances of completing secondary school.
Due to limited educational opportunities and the early marriage of girls in rural India, many women and children struggle with malnutrition, anemia, or illnesses caused by poor hygiene. According to the National Family Health Survey of 2005-2006, 60.2% of children under three in Madhya Pradesh's rural areas were underweight and 47.8% were stunted, more than twice the rates the WHO would classify as critical in emergency settings. Rates of anemia among married women age 15-49 were high, at 61%.
Real Medicine Foundation has been working in rural India since 2009, focusing on malnutrition awareness, identification, treatment, and prevention. In 2017, we increased our emphasis on hygiene promotion and began providing low-cost sanitary pads. By increasing the number of community educators and teaching girls and women to produce their own reusable sanitary pads, more lives will be saved, malnutrition and illness prevented, and menstruation will no longer be an obstacle to girls' education.
A qualitative and quantitative study conducted in 2014 indicates that RMF's approach to community outreach reduced severe acute malnutrition by 34% and moderate acute malnutrition by 14%-a 48% reduction of acute malnutrition in target communities. By empowering women and girls with the knowledge, skills, and resources to practice good nutrition and hygiene, produce reusable sanitary pads, and teach others, this project will improve the long-term wellbeing of girls, women, and whole communities.
