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Discussion about entry: Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes: Sustainable Nutritional Education & Treatment
This is discussion about Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes: Sustainable Nutritional Education & Treatment.
Comentários
I like your idea. The program stresses the importance of education as the major strategy to ensure that treated children who returned to their communities remain healthy. Education (vs. macronutrient and micronutrient supplementation, access to clean water) is not uniformly successful in other settings, and it would be great to know more about the success rates of the program (the description and the website do not provide quantitative data information). If there are any outcome studies of the impact of the program, it would be great to cite these.
Hi Rubina,
Thanks for your comment! Education is important because it's not only sustainable, but it spreads throughout communities.
Through follow-up visits with every child discharged from an NRH, field workers have found that 93% of the children retain their health and weight. Of the other 7%, poverty is the most common cause of their poor nutrition, and various illnesses account for the remainder. An indication of the success of the education component of the program is that ignorance about nutrition is not found to be a cause of relapses into malnutrition.
Thanks! It's great to learn that the nutritional outcomes have been studied and that such a high fraction of the children maintain their weight. From my perspective, your nutritional outcomes make the results of your program even more impressive.
Hi Gregg, I'm glad to see you submitted an entry. I think you did a great job, especially addressing issues of sustainability with the government's support. However, I wonder if you could address the issues of sustainability in other areas. What if the program were replicated in places where the government might be less enthusiastic about NRHs or don't have the funding to support them? Do you have any advice in those situations for seeking alternate funding?
Good luck!
-Debbie
Hi Debbie,
You brought up an important point. NYOF has been fortunate that the government of Nepal is willing and able to provide indefinite funding for the Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes.
For situations where this isn't possible, long-term funding can come from NGOs (international organizations or NGOs based in the country) or government-funded foreign aid organizations such as USAID, DFID, or various UN agencies. Which sources of funding are most likely to be helpful will vary from country to country, so this may have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
Take care,
Gregg
This is a really impactful initiative. It’s an inexpensive model that can be readily applied to a wide range of cultural contexts, especially since it has government buy-in. We would like to learn more about why you’ve decided to build your centers from scratch and have not tried repurposing infrastructure? Overall, this is a very holistic and sustainable model that addresses not just the problem, but the root of it. Thanks for a great entry!
- Naveen Shakir, Ashoka’s Changemakers
Hi Naveen,
Yes, this is definitely a sustainable, inexpensive model that has a tremendous impact.
You brought up a great question. In some regions, it may be more efficient to repurpose existing infrastructure. Our experience is that in Nepal, the hospital buildings are generally being heavily used already, and don't have extra space. During times of widespread illness, patients often lie in hallways in hospitals.
Take care,
Gregg
Thanks to everyone who has made comments and suggestions about the Nutritional Rehabilitation Home program. I would love to learn more about what you all think of this project, especially your ideas for how we can improve it to rescue even more Nepali children from malnutrition.