Malnutrition remains a pressing problem in Côte d’Ivoire, where 46 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and nearly 23 percent of children suffer from stunted growth. Nutritional deficiencies also compromise children’s immune systems and increase the risk of death from diseases such as malaria, measles, and diarrhea. This new project with longtime BGR partner Helen Keller International (HKI) targets the region of Tchologo in the Savanes district, where poverty and child malnutrition rates are higher than the national average.
This year’s project is building on an existing program to reach 57 new health centers. Trained health workers are working to establish nutritional education programs in three new districts, targeting 88,350 pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 5 in order to reduce the incidence of malnutrition in children in their first 1,000 days of life. In this, the first year of a three-year program, multiday trainings will be coupled with culinary demonstrations sessions for women of childbearing age and pregnant and breastfeeding women, providing nutritional knowledge and the skills to prepare healthy meals based on local and affordable foods. In total, more than 20,000 women and 10,000 children will directly benefit from this intervention.
Malnutrition remains a pressing problem in Côte d’Ivoire, where 46 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and nearly 23 percent of children suffer from stunted growth. Nutritional deficiencies also compromise children’s immune systems and increase the risk of death from diseases such as malaria, measles, and diarrhea. This new project with longtime BGR partner Helen Keller International (HKI) targets the region of Tchologo in the Savanes district, where poverty and child malnutrition rates are higher than the national average.
This year’s project is building on an existing program to reach 57 new health centers. Trained health workers are working to establish nutritional education programs in three new districts, targeting 88,350 pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 5 in order to reduce the incidence of malnutrition in children in their first 1,000 days of life. In this, the first year of a three-year program, multiday trainings will be coupled with culinary demonstrations sessions for women of childbearing age and pregnant and breastfeeding women, providing nutritional knowledge and the skills to prepare healthy meals based on local and affordable foods. In total, more than 20,000 women and 10,000 children will directly benefit from this intervention.
