Only 57.5% of Ethiopian children under 6 months are exclusively breastfeed. Mothers get 90 days paid maternity leave, of which 60 days are allocated for postpartum. For economic reason most mothers go back to work on the 3rd month after birth. They introduce breastfeeding substitute at this point. Infants face frequent illness and loss on the benefit of breastfeeding. Mothers spend their income on breastfeeding substitute. They face dissatisfaction, frequent absenteeism and lag in their career.
Nutrition
Indonesia faces a double burden of maternal and child malnutrition, with high rates of under and over nutrition. As of 2014, 12% of children suffer from wasting while 12% are overweight. Outdated practices and rapid socioeconomic changes contribute to suboptimal feeding practices. Meanwhile, healthcare workers and mothers are time and resource constrained, limiting the efficiency of existing interventions.
Malnutrition is a big problem in Lake Victoria region of Kenya. Nonetheless, there is a nutritious freshwater sardine called Omena which comprises 44% of total catch of fish from the Lake but poor drying leads to huge wastage, lowering food value and incomes. Dried form of this fish has 3 to 6 months shelf life, and can be sold in small portions to meet needs of the rural poor both nutritionally and commercially. Increasing the availability of dried fish in the remote rural areas would help alleviate malnutrition.
Spirulina is a nutrient-rich algae providing far more protein per gram than meats or plant sources, all essential amino acids, high iron, and vitamins A, B12, and K. Here, it is sold as a high-end nutritional supplement. We aim to bring Spirulina's nutritional benefits inexpensively to children in the Philippines, who need what it provides: nearly half of Filipino households fail to reach desired daily protein consumption levels, and 35% of children under 5 suffer from anemia.
The project is designed to address the problem of chronic under nutrition by delivering sustainable and scalable cross-sectoral solutions to transform the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in Banswara, South Rajasthan. One key aspect of the project involves exploring new ways to promote coordination between multi sectoral aspects i.e. agriculture, nutrition, women empowerment, enterprise development and community development.
The top most recommendation by the panel of experts at the Copenhagen Consensus 2012 was "micronutrient intervention" to have the most leverage to make an impact under budget restrained conditions. Almost 2 billion people around the world suffer from iron deficiency (ID), or its more severe form iron deficiency anemia (IDA). ID affects the health and productivity of all, the most vulnerable being young children, adolescent girls and young women in the childbearing age.
Globally, 221 million women desire to prevent pregnancies. Developing countries face 99% of the 287000 annual maternal deaths, 30% can be prevented through family planning. Mother’s well being and pregnancy outcomes depend on pregnancy spacing, access to contraceptives improves public health outcomes, thus alleviates poverty. However barriers to access modern contraception exist including lack of knowledge, poor supply chain, as well as lack of choice. Young unmarried girls most affected.
Janos Zempleni of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the U.S. will test whether supplementing milk formula with exosomes from milk could have the potential to improve the growth of babies aged between 6 and 12 months and help protect them from infections. Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles naturally present in all bodily fluids and are thought to transfer small molecules such as RNAs between different cells to regulate various cell functions. However, during the production of milk formula for babies, the exosomes are destroyed.
Owens Wiwa of the Clinton Health Access Initiative in the U.S. will determine whether providing free vouchers for mothers to receive a nutrient-dense food can help infants with moderate acute malnutrition in Nigeria. By linking the vouchers to attendance at immunization clinics, they also hope to boost immunization coverage. Malnutrition is a major public health concern in Nigeria, where almost one third of children are underweight, and ten percent are wasted.
Muthupandian Ashokkumar at the University of Melbourne in Australia, along with Francesca Cavalieri, Meifang Zhou, and Srinvas Mettu, will produce edible microballoons made from protein that contain essential nutrients for adding to common foods to combat malnutrition in mothers and infants. Encapsulating the nutrients, rather than adding them directly to food, helps keep them stable and promotes their absorption in the body. It can also mask unpleasant tastes, and control the timing and location of nutrient release, which can increase their performance.