Himalayan Healthcare for 5000: Save Lives in Nepal

Dear all,

To improve the health and nutritional status of children, we regularly conduct child healthcare services at the clinic, including growth monitoring, nutritional assessments, and immunization support. These are the major activities PHASE undertakes to enhance child health at our project sites. In addition to clinical care, we also focus on community-level efforts, such as counseling for mothers, community-based Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) training for mothers and Female Community Health Volunteers, child protection, and school health education. All these contribute to improving children's health.

Nutrition workshops, super-flour demonstrations, child growth monitoring, and healthy baby competitions are key activities for monitoring child health and nutrition status. We also support government health facilities in immunizing children and organize school health education programs at each school within our project sites. 

During this reporting period, we treated 77 cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) (39 males and 38 females), representing 1% of children under five years old. Additionally, we treated 254 cases of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) (138 males and 116 females), accounting for 2% of children in this age group. Last year, SAM and MAM cases were at 4% and 17%, respectively. This indicates a decrease in both SAM and MAM cases compared to last year, demonstrating a positive trend in child nutrition.

Our data shows that male children are slightly more likely to suffer from malnutrition than females. We provided counseling and practical demonstrations to families, teaching them how to prepare nutritious food. Nutritional supplement food packages were distributed to 116 malnourished children from very poor families. 

As we work with "ultra-poor" communities in remote districts, we encounter cases of severe malnutrition and pneumonia in children under five. To address these issues, PHASE has integrated its livelihoods projects to support food security and combat hunger, ensuring nutrition-related problems at the community level are addressed. We provided nutritional food packages and conducted regular follow-ups with malnourished children, resulting in improved nutritional status. Additionally, the children's parents received orientation on personal hygiene to prevent illness. We also demonstrated the preparation of super flour and baby food using local ingredients, encouraging parents to feed their babies frequently.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us improve the health and well-being of children in our communities. Together, we are making a lasting impact on child nutrition and overall health.

PHASE Nepal team