Nutre-Perú is a voluntary organization created and sustained by undergraduates, its main objective is to fight against malnutrition in children under 5 years old in Peruvian rural communities through a program that looks up to create a local organization, constituted by mothers from the community, capable of identifying, evaluating and combating risk factors that endanger the nutrition of the local children. We are currently working in Catahuasi and 3 nearby communities located in the sierra of Peru, we’ve identified 4 problems inside this communities that affect children’s nutrition: lack of basic hygiene; lack of exclusive breastfeeding practice; imbalanced food proportion intake and family dynamics related problems (the latter has proved to be a strong predictor in children nutrition). After 2 years of working with the community of Catahuasi, we’ve measured a reduction of the prevalence of malnutrition by 7% and have built a trustful relationship with the community.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/NutrePeru
Ricardo Lewis, Nutre Perú volunteer, reading the story of “El Escuadron Clorito” to a family during a home visit at the family's orchard. It’s the second volume made by the volunteering, where is told the story of a group of friends using chlorination as a form of hygiene in the community to prevent disease. It is an interactive way of teaching the children the importance of hygiene.
Ricardo Lewis, Nutre Perú volunteer, hugging Misleny and Daylin children from Catahuasi. This picture represents the affective bond that has been formed with the community, which has been built and strengthened over time and with activities focused on combating malnutrition.
The volunteer team with the children from Catahuasi after the Nutriolimpiadas (Nutre “Olympics”). This is the first activity that takes place on reaching the community in order to approach the children and their mothers to let them know us.
Gabriel Torres, Nutre Perú volunteer, having fun with Richard a child with cerebral palsy from Catahuasi.
A mother breastfeeding her child using a portawawa (porta = carry, wawa=quechua word for baby) adapted by the volunteering Nutre Peru, in order to improve the rate of exclusive breastfeeding.
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Assessment: We made a situational diagnosis in the population of Catahuasi and nearby communities; this allowed us to recognize the geographic, social structure and culture context in which we would be acting. We also identified potential resources we had at our disposal, such as 2 schools, a local organization for community breakfasts, local leaders, people who work in agriculture and animal breeding, and one primary health center for these 4 communities (Catahuasi, San Jeronimo, Huayllampi and Pueblo Antiguo) which are 15 minutes away from each other (by car). We took measures of the problems that commonly affect Peruvian rural communities, and evaluated the reality of these national indicators and looked at the existence of these problems in these areas. Finally, we listened to what every mother in these communities wanted for the future of their children and their community in order to know their expectations.
Planning: We currently have the commitment of mothers who share the same conviction for what we fight for. They constitute the first organization, that as our plan, we look to leave in each community we encounter; they are capable of replicating our actions and to evaluate new difficulties that could compromise nutrition in their children through time, while they keep constant communication with us. Our main objective (nutrition) is accomplished by 4 subobjectives, which are reducing the ratio of diarrheic and respiratory acute infections, reduce the number of families with dysfunctional family dynamics or at risk of developing it, increase exclusive maternal lactancy and increase of healthy food proportions. Strategies we use to make these happen are based in domiciliary visits, group sessions and CHW training. With the elaboration of materials that provide information (knowledge), formation (values) and transformation (empowerment) in all mothers and kids we reach.
Taking Action: To accomplish the objectives planned, we focused on creating trust in our volunteers, in and amongst mothers and children. We gathered 60 students from many universities and multiple careers, students learnt beyond the boundaries of their careers; inter-professional teamwork is our main component since different approaches and talents come into play.
We performed a massive event in Catahuasi gathering all the children in the different nearby communities for an interacting playday.
One of our representative materials was a storybook with community scenario cases with healthy attitudes, which made huge impact on children. Kids now recognize us as their friends and role models, making mothers realize we are truly concerned about their children. Therefore they showed cooperation with us and they themselves wanted to be part of the change in their community. Also, group sessions to raise union amongst villagers while participating with us in the explanation of our different topics.
Evaluation: Nutre-Perú evaluates in each trip to Catahuasi the height and weight of every child; this is crucial for nutritional evaluation since changes will reflect rapidly in these indicators and will make us take accurate decisions. According to our parameters, malnutrition has diminished from 19% to 12% in 2 years. Our interventions are mainly focused in the change of mother's attitudes that will reflect in children's nutrition. This made us develop and adapt different tools to measure our sub-objectives (planning). E.g. in the breastfeeding questionnaire, 19 healthy attitudes are displayed, where only 2 topics are remaining to be in an optimum score, these topics are related to the effect of alcohol consumption on the mother's milk and the long-term benefits that mother's milk has in children. This made us take special attention in this results to adjust the message we communicate.
Sustaining the work: We handed out a portawawa (quechua for “baby carrier) to every pregnant and breastfeeding mother, designed to comfortably carry the mothers baby, facilitate breastfeeding and to improve the mother-child bond. The portawawa system, works as it could be handed-down to newly pregnant mothers in the community. Thanks to the commitment of 4 mothers willing to be trained as community health workers, we’re creating a network of volunteer mothers from the community that will accomplish the specific objectives from the organization. They will measure simple indicators and will be taught how to analyze the presented data. The data will be sent through cellphone messages that we will acquire from donations of one the biggest phone business from Perú. A cellphone will be handed over to every volunteer mother that completes the training process. The 4 mothers will be instructed so they can train new volunteers.
We measured 17 attitudes towards breastfeeding, only 8 were in optimum levels and these indicated a deficiency, after 2 years of action, we have now 15 optimum level attitudes, this change indicates that breastfeeding in these communities are positive now. A reduction on acute respiratory infectious symptoms was measured, from 600 to 484. We identified 12 homes with dysfunctional family dynamics and 15 at risk of developing it, now we have 4 homes dysfunctional and 9 homes at risk. Carbohydrate consumption was their main dish, taking note of the proportion of their food periodically, the proportion of proteins raised to optimum levels. As a result of this collaborative work, we’ve built a strong link with the community that led us to identify with joy 4 mothers who also acted voluntarily to serve as the first members of the organization we plan to leave that fights against malnutrition. As a result, we measured a reduction of 19% to 12% in under-5-year-old-children malnutrition.
