How Aahar is making a change: A community speaks

Approximately 50% of children under 5 years are malnourished in India. Nearly 39% are stunted, that is low in height for their age. And in the financial capital Mumbai, 26000 children die every year because of malnourishment.

Aahar, which means food, is a program that combines home-based and facility-based care to reach out to a large number of vulnerable children in need of monitoring. In order to make maximum impact, it reaches out to mothers when they are pregnant and addresses nutrition and feeding practices throughout the first 1,000 days of a child's life. The program was launched in Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest slum colony in 2012 by NGO SNEHA, and works in partnership with the Centre’s Integrated Child Development Scheme, the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai and the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital.

This week SNEHA will felicitate the many champions that help Aahar make a difference. A series of events will be held to honour the dedication and commitment of mothers, the municipal staff and community workers.

Here are some of those voices:

Mukesh Kumar Jaiswal, 25

“I was 21 years old when I got married and I have two young children. My children used to fall sick very often when they were babies and my wife and I struggled to cope. We gave them whatever was cooked in the house, sometimes we fed them chips and biscuits. It was only when my youngest was nearly 6 months old when we realised that what they eat makes a substantial difference to their health. This was after SNEHA workers came to our area and held camps. They talked about the importance of breastfeeding and immunisation and it made a big difference to our children’s well-being and those in the neighbourhood as well.
It is not like children don’t fall sick now. They do but not as often as they used to. We not only feed our children green vegetables, dal and fruits, but we eat healthy too”

Renuka Kadam, Community Organizer, SNEHA

“I started working in Dharavi 4 years ago and it was initially very hard to convince the families here to change their habits. They did not understand the importance of eating green vegetables, fruits and protein. We received a lot of support from the local anganwadi where these women would gather. Gradually they started to trust us and attend our sessions.

There was no awareness of the importance of breastfeeding. Most women would not nurse their babies due to misconceptions and myths so we had to work a lot on that aspect. They did not understand how important it is to take adequate rest, eat regular, nutritious meals while pregnant or take vitamins and supplements so their babies are healthy. They are so busy taking care of their families that they forget to look after themselves. They forget to eat. So we draw a clock on a sheet of paper and mark out the hours when they should eat.

We hold camps twice a month when babies are weighed and their growth is recorded in charts. As the mothers see the improvement they are convinced. We also advice them about spacing babies and the various contraceptive methods.

From the time we started Aahar, there has been a big improvement in baseline indicators. But the challenge remains. Dharavi is home to a large migrant population so we have to monitor constantly”.

Sangeeta Gupta, 30

“I have three children and earlier I would never bother too much about what I fed them. If I could cook a meal I would. Otherwise I would give them some money so they could eat chips or biscuits. After SNEHA’s camps I have changed. I always give them a dabba for school with vegetables and roti or rice. I have seen what a major difference it has made to my children’s health”.

Also read: Addressing the nutrition challenge | SNEHA