MAHAN Project: Small-Steps Charity

Child Malnutrition Project in Melghat, Maharashtra
MAHAN is non-profit charitable NGO providing preventive and curative community health & hospital services to 3, 00,000 tribals from resource poor hilly forest tribal area of Melghat, Maharashtra for more than 20 years.
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Did you know
Infant Mortality rate is one of the highest in the world ( >90/1000 live births). More than 20% children are severely malnourished and may not live till their 5th birthday. More than 2 million tribals live in remote jungles of Melghat making medical access difficult.

Our solution
10% of the population comprises of children under 5. The tribals are illiterate and adhere to traditional remidies to solve health issues.
MAHAN believes in home based therapy for management of severe malnutrition by a multi-pronged approach:
1. Training of local women in identifying malnourished children.
2. Provision of home based health care to malnourished children:
  • Growth monitoring of under – 5 children. 
  • Treatment of severely malnourished children in 25 tribal villages by therapeutic diet (F75, F-100 ready to use therapeutic food).
  • Treatment of associated diseases like diarrhoea, malaria, pneumonia, etc.
  • Management of resistant or relapse severely malnourished cases by pediatricians.

3. Interaction and coordination with government health and ICDS system:
Provision of factual data related to prevalence and mortality of malnourished children, vital statistics, mother and child immunization. This will help mobilize government schemes for tribal wellbeing.

How is Small Steps Charity involved
Small Steps charity is funding the entire yearly cost of the MAHAN Malnutrition Programme since 2019. in 2021, 500 children were treated for severe malnutrition with positive results in over 60%  with significant reduction of overall mortality. This includes procurement of raw materials for the high calorie foods for babies, training the local health workers and provision of set up of home vegetable farms. 
Ad hoc support provided in the form of COVID relief funds, upgrading the solar electrical capacity, electronic stabilisation circuits, provision of PPE, etc.  

Site Visit 2019
Small-Steps Charity visited Melghat, India in October 2019 to get a better understanding of MAHAN Malnutrition Project.
Read More....melghat-diaries.html

How can you help
Your support will help save the life of numerous children with severe malnutrition and pave the way for better health facilities in this remote area. 
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Child Malnution is treatable and preventable!