Posts in Category: “Reducing Malnutrition”

At Helen Keller International we dedicate ourselves to reducing malnutrition by providing low-cost vitamin and mineral supplements to millions of the most hard-to-reach, deeply vulnerable people around the world, and by encouraging people and communities to make simple and inexpensive changes to their food production and consumption that collectively result in saving the sight and lives of millions of people worldwide.

Promoting Nutrition to Parliamentarians

April 30, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
HKI's Vice President and Regional Director for Africa makes that case for investing in nutrition
Vitamin A Supplementation

This blog post was written by Shawn Baker, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, about his recent participation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) 126th Assembly in Kampala, Uganda.

First Ladies, Members of Parliament, a former Head of State – it is not often that you get to speak about nutrition to such an audience. I had the privilege of joining the West African Nutrition Advocate, the former President of Cape Verde, in Kampala, Uganda for the 126th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in early April.

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Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition

Postcard from Bangladesh: A Day in a Mother’s Life

April 26, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Enhanced Homestead Food Production in Action
Bread 1

This blog post was originally published on Bread for the World’s Bread Blog after a visit to see Helen Keller International’s Homestead Food Production in Bangladesh in action. Photographs are by Laura Elizabeth Pohl and text by Molly Marsh.

The afternoon hours are Tohomino Akter’s favorite time of day. That’s when she can take a break from her household tasks, rest, and play with her 17-month-old daughter, Adia. Like any toddler, Adia much prefers movement.

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Categories Asia-Pacific, Reducing Malnutrition

A 1,000 Day Window For a Lifetime of Health

February 17, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Nepal Mother and Child

This post was written by Yesenia Garcia, Communications Coordinator for the 1,000 Days Partnership and appeared on the 1,000 Days Blog and defeatDD’s blog. Helen Keller International is a proud partner of the 1,000 Days movement.

The 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s 2nd birthday represent a critical but short window of time to ensure a child’s future health and prosperity. Children who are well-nourished during this critical window reap a lifetime of benefits for themselves and their communities. The nutrition that a mother and her baby receive during these 1,000 days has a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn and rise out of poverty.

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Categories Africa, Asia-Pacific, Reducing Malnutrition

The fight for Maternal and Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

January 31, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
hisExcellencyJakayaMrishoKikwete

This post was written by His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete – President of the United Republic of Tanzania and originally appeared in Global Health and Diplomacy magazine.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on maternal and child health are lagging far behind target. Although Africa has just 12% of the global population, it accounts for half of all maternal deaths and half the deaths of children under five.

In Tanzania, attendance at prenatal clinics is over 94% but only 50% give birth at proper health facilities. It is not like in the United States where giving birth at home is a matter of choice. In our part of the world, women are unable to reach proper medical help at their most vulnerable time. I was born under the hand of a traditional birth attendant and I grew up healthy and strong to become the president of my country. It is my hope that we can provide the same opportunity to every child.

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Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition

How to Make a Difference: Meet HKI’s Jennifer Nielsen

January 19, 2012 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
An interview with HKI's Senior Program Manager for Nutrition and Health
Jennifer in Nepal

I often wonder how people actually get to live their dreams. I sat down recently with Jennifer Nielsen, Senior Program Manager for Nutrition and Health for Helen Keller International, and discovered someone who has actually done just that. Here is Jennifer’s story:

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Categories Africa, Helen Keller, Reducing Malnutrition, Staff Profiles

A Great Last Minute Gift

December 21, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Christmas Oranament

Hanukkah has begun and Christmas is just days away. If you’re still looking for the perfect gift, look no further!  This holiday season, make a donation to Helen Keller International in honor of someone special to help save the sight and lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Whatever amount you give  – $1,000 to provide 1,000 children with life-saving vitamin A, $250 to restore the vision of five people through cataract surgery, or $25 to give one American child the glasses she needs  – your gift will make a significant improvement in someone’s life. You can’t say the same for fruitcake!

Don’t just take my word for it: Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times columnist, Nick Kristof included HKI in his annual gift guide noting: “HKI gets more bang for the buck than almost any group I can think of.”

Our success is due to the loyal commitment of friends and supporters like you. During this season of giving as we look forward to a new year, please consider making a difference with a donation to Helen Keller International.

On behalf of the HKI team working around the globe – and those whose lives are touched because of your generosity – we wish you happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Santa-Cambodia

A drawing from a child in Cambodia who benefited from our Homestead Food Production program. The ornament at top was drawn by a student in NYC who received free eyeglasses through our ChildSight® program.

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Categories Preventing Blindness, Reducing Malnutrition, United States

Thankful For Orange-fleshed Sweetpotatoes!

November 22, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Little boy with OFSP

Sweetpotato pie. Sweetpotato casserole with marshmallows. Sweetpotato fries. It seems like this time of year, these starchy, sweet-tasting root vegetables are all the rage. But, did you know that sweetpotatoes are more than just a Thanksgiving staple? In parts of Africa, orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes help save sight and lives.

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Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition

My Favorite Food

November 7, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
How One Community Prevents Malnutrition by Monitoring the Growth of its Children.
map_of_niger

Post by Douglas Steinberg, HKI’s Deputy Regional Director for West Africa.

In a recent visit to HKI’s work in Tsogal, Niger, replies to my queries about the harvest were not encouraging at all.

“Most families here have only harvested enough to feed their families for two months,” replied one farmer in the community. This year is shaping up to be much less bountiful than last year – but still better than the disastrous harvest of 2009. This is a time when young children are at risk of malnutrition.

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Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition

Sight & Food: What do They Have in Common?

October 13, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
A week of awareness for vision and nutrition.
World Sight Day Face

What do Sight and Food have to do with one another? Well, for one thing, both have official celebrations this week! Today, October 13th, is World Sight Day, and Sunday, October 16th is World Food Day.

Your ability to see is greatly affected by the nutrients you eat. In fact, Helen Keller International collaborated on the groundbreaking research in the 1970s that first identified that a lack of vitamin A can not only cause blindness, but can also compromise the immune system, which, in turn, increases the risk of death from diseases such as malaria, measles and diarrhea.

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Categories Preventing Blindness, Reducing Malnutrition

Devastation in Dadaab

September 22, 2011 | Posted by Maggie Jacoby
Thousands of children require treatment for severe malnutrition.
MUAC measurement

A post by Issakha Diop, who is responding to the crisis in the Horn of Africa on behalf of Helen Keller International.

I am currently stationed in northeastern Kenya (260 miles northeast of Nairobi and 46 miles west of Somalia) at Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world. It was designed to provide temporary shelter for the 90,000 people fleeing from Somalia’s civil war in early 1990. As the war, drought, and insecurity continued in Somalia, the three camps in Dadaab – Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley – became home for over 450,000 people.

Today, 1,000 to 1,500 new people arrive each day because of the current drought and food crisis in East Africa.

Little Abdulay Sahal Mohamed from Somalia arrived with his family five days ago. His entire family – his parents and six other siblings – walked for 21 days before reaching a reception point at the Kenya/Somalia border to be transported to Dadaab by UNHCR.

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Categories Africa, Reducing Malnutrition