Health, Nutrition & Pre Primary
Gaining accessibility to healthy and affordable food is a challenge for people from rural villages. Ironically, these villages are usually the ones where farming is important to the local economy.
Millions of rural Indian children are deprived of the rights to health, nutrition, education and safe drinking water. Infants and young children are highly susceptible to malnutrition, and around 15% of children between the ages of 1 to 5 suffer from it.
AID India launched the Pre-primary Education, Nutrition and Health Project to uplift these children's lives, and to give them hope for a better future.
The Harsh Reality of Children in Rural India
AID India realized the increasingly poor conditions of health and education status of the children in rural India. They will only deteriorate further if steps are not taken to correct the gaps, therefore impacting the development of generations to come.
Poor nourishment would not only render them unfit but is also a major contributor to high rates of school dropouts. Therefore, these deficits would not only snatch their childhoods but also make them dependent and unhealthy when they become older.
The gaps would only widen with time and accumulate in a magnified form in the children as they grow up. Aid India hopes to change the way health and education are approached in rural areas for the better.
A Step Towards Equitable Healthcare and Education
AID India is currently working in 39 Tribal villages in Tamil Nadu by providing healthy and nutritious snacks to children. Due to the lockdown imposed on children in tribal villages, they can manage to get only one proper meal in a day.
In the lockdown, parents don't have any work, therefore there is no income to sustain the needs of their family. Schools are closed and not all rural families have access to electronic devices and online classes. In these cases, parents are likely to send their children in search of work instead of attending school.
AID India has taken up the initiative in providing health and nutrition support to give nutritious snacks to the children for their better growth and development. Their families are provided with dry ration support and Livelihood support to sustain their family needs. The Edu Tech Tab initiative also brings the accessibility of online learning to rural areas so that children do not need to drop out.
Delving Into the Goals of the Project
- The Pre-primary Education, Nutrition and Health Project aims to cater to the educational and health-based needs of rural children. This program is targeted at children between the age group of 0-6 years and guarantees their holistic development.
- Children are to be prepared for the formal education that they would follow at the next stage of their schooling, usually at the age of 5. This would be done by polishing their School Readiness Skills as proposed by the World Bank.
- The health domain would aim to monitor the child through their dynamic growth years from 0- 6 years. During this period, they try and ensure an optimum environment for every child's well-rounded advancement as the years pass by. This would be done by the frequent monitoring of their developmental milestones owing to their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, language, cognitive and social skills.
- The project aims to create a platform for early intervention to prevent any loopholes in the education and health amenities of young children so that timely corrections can be put into play.
- Providing health tips: Aid India will provide short videos on basic health and hygiene to the families in these villages. We will sensitize on the importance of safe social distancing measures. We will also provide masks, hygiene kits for the families in these hamlets.
- Basic Maternal Health: Since there will be a drastic reduction in antenatal, neonatal and essential maternal healthcare services, our appointed health care worker will work in sync with the people in the community to provide support for pregnant women and women with infants. We will also ensure that antenatal iron-folic acid and micronutrient support is provided to the women.
- WASH-related information: Workshops and training on the importance of handwashing and maintaining good WASH habits will be provided to the children and the families. Messages will be sent on phones through SMS. Groups will be created on WhatsApp for sending any communication to members of the family.
- Community-based support of acute malnutrition: Since our health workers are members of the community, they will check up on the families and members within the community for malnutrition. Preventive measures by providing food rations. Protein supplements will be provided for members of the community.
Predicted Impact of Our Project
- Since most of the children in the rural settings come from families without proper educational background, the educational aspect of this project would incorporate basic school readiness skills to prepare them for the formal education to be attained later.
- The School Readiness Skills would also inculcate creativity, thinking ability and confidence in the child, making it easier for them to learn and probably also aid them to continue with their education in the long run.
- In terms of health, most of these children and their parents cannot meet their basic nutritional needs., affecting the growth and development of the child. To avoid such consequences, every child's developmental and health aspects would be monitored for prompt intervention.
- Early intervention and implementation of corrective measures would help reduce school dropout levels among the children of these regions.
- This project would ensure that no child lags in terms of education and health and can have a normal and safe childhood. This would protect the future of the children and ensure them a sound future.
Support Us for a Better World
The project is currently being implemented in 7 districts and 40 villages of Tamil Nadu. Cuddalore, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Ramnad, Chengelpet, Tiruvallur and Kallakurichi are our earmarked districts for this project.
This progress has been attained through the generosity of our patrons, and would not be possible without people's donations. Over 60% of the rural villages suffer from meagre health and education facilities. With your support, our Pre-primary Education, Nutrition and Health Project can reach more villages and uplift the lives of countless individuals.
Join us and donate to the Village Education Center, Village Library and Dry Rations projects to defend people's rights to healthy living conditions and access to quality education.
Please contact +91-44-28602308 or email info@aidindia.in for any queries you may have.