[ISF] Nutrition Team - another update!

By Clare Barnett

The India School Fund (ISF) is a non-profit organization focused on the development of strong education programs for rural children in rural India.  In 2005 it opened the doors of its first school in Rujugella, a small village close to Mathra in Uttar Pradesh.  This year ISF was awarded $3000 to implement a nutritious school lunch program in to the school with the hope of improving the schoolchildren’s overall nutrition and cognitive development.

Team: Clare Barnett
  Kirti Ghei
Katharine Burmaster
Adenike Akinfenwa
Tejaswini Kulkarni
Vandita Tewari
Bolanle Buloye

Deliverables:
1. Develop an understanding of current local dietary intake
2. Evaluate baseline data on the nutritional status of Rujugella schoolchildren
3. Literature review on common nutrient deficiencies in Northern India
4. Develop an understanding of current midday meal programs in Indian government schools
5. Develop adjuvant nutrition education programs that can be implemented into the schools

Progress: Progress has been slow due to difficulty accessing information from the ground staff in India, although steps have been made in development.  The baseline nutritional status of the Rujugella school children has been completed and happily the Rujugella schoolchildren are well above the National average for height and weight!  The next steps are to develop a meal program that meets the Indian governments recommendations for midday meals – all at under 3 rupees/meal.  A big tasks!

 

[ISF] Clinic Team -- update!

By Adrianne Lesser

The ISF-Clinic team is composed of Matthias Nachtnebel, Sima Shah, and Adriane Lesser. Matthias and Sima are MPH students, while Adriane is a MS student in her first year. The team is working to develop a set of implementable recommendations and program activities targeting the issue of access to preventive and basic primary care services in Rajugela. While the team is designing community-level recommendations, the emphasis is on schoolchildren, in keeping with ISF’s goal of having healthy students in its classrooms. Contacts and mentors for the group to-date have been or will be Rahul, Ajay at the Acumen Fund, Asad and Manu especially for assistance with Hindi-based conference calls, Elizabeth and Esmeralda, and Annie. 

Planned deliverables at this point include recommendations on feasibility of ISF’s initial ideas regarding preventive and clinic care; an evaluation of the estimated burden of different diseases and illness in Rajugela (especially among children); an essential drug list tailored to the estimated burden that projects feasibility, contents, and cost of stocking a small drug dispensary; and recommendations and possibly educational materials regarding how ISF can best reach and build knowledge in the community on basic preventive and primary care information and practices.