 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
|
 |
||||||||
The Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH) works to improve the lives of mothers and children in local communities by providing long term programmes focused on health, nutrition, education, and sustainable skills training. A not-for-profit independent organization, we work with socially and/or financially disadvantaged communities regardless of their race, creed or gender. Our aim is to help children reach their potential by alleviating poverty and malnutrition. Children who are malnourished have lowered resistance to infection and are more likely to die from common childhood ailments such as diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory infections. Those who survive may be locked into a vicious cycle of recurring sickness and faltering growth, often with irreversible damage to their cognitive and social development. Undernutrition is an underlying cause of an estimated 53% of all under five year old deaths (UNICEF Report card on Nutrition May 2006). The problem of malnutrition in children goes hand in hand with a lack of disposable income within a family, poor knowledge of basic nutrition and hygiene practices and poor access to medical help, clean water and decent accommodation. All these factors play a part in this cycle of deprivation. The Foundation for Mother and Child Health has set up a mother-and-child centre assisting impoverished families in urban Jakarta. The centre currently provides health, hygiene and nutrition education for mothers and community health workers; access to medical care for both mothers and children; Early Childhood learning, feeding programmes and growth monitoring for young children; and skills training for mothers. Early this year a mobile health unit was set up in Jakarta, allowing our experienced health educators, pre school teachers and sewing teachers to travel to other low income areas in Jakarta to work with other needy families. FMCH has similar programmes for mothers and children in Mumbai, India and has successfully completed its programmes with mothers and children affected by the tsunami of 2004 in Aceh. In September 2008, FMCH will be implementing the second phase of its health education and small skills training programme on the remote island of West Timor. Website last updated July 2008
|
 |
The Foundation for Mother and Child Health |
