(Rivista Internazionale - December 1998: Health Centre Kerala - 2/3)

Kerala. India. Recreational activities and parties for mothers and their children organised by the medical personnel of the Centre.

Background
The living conditions in India of the poor sections of the population are very bad, especially of women and children. Poor nutrition and a lack of health care mean that many children die even shortly after birth. In India, infant mortality is about ten times higher, and that of mothers fifty times higher than in Western Europe. Children who survive are, as a rule, undernourished and therefore particularly susceptible to infectious diseases. To improve health and living conditions, Malteser started in 1991 to support Bishop Lawrence Mar Ephraem by implementing a community health and development programme called Health for One Million (HOM) among the weaker sections of society in Kanyakumari-District. This programme had already been successfully implemented in the southern district of Kerala where Bishop Lawrence initiated it in 1975.

Target and Target Group
Health for One Million is a women-oriented programme. Hence most of the beneficiaries are married women essentially from the backward communities with low economic status. The age group of women ranges for 25 to 45 years. By status most of them are mothers. A mother plays an important role in maintaining a healthy nutritional status for the family. Consequently, all HOM activities are centred around mothers through whom the entire community is served.

Kerala. India. Among the goals of the health activities, great importance is given to the improvement of children’s eating habits and increasing of their weight.

Planned Project Activities During the Year 1999
It is planned to extend the project activities of HOM in Kanyakumari District in 1999 to augment the number of women benefiting and participating in the programme. The focus will be on health and nutrition, income generation and sheltering the homeless.
1. Health and Nutrition Activities
HOM will offer different kind of activities in the realm of health and nutrition. Besides training courses for mothers, there will be preventive and curative health measures, such as: • Classes for mothers in basic health care, hygiene and sanitation; • Growth monitoring of children under five years; • Medical check-up and treatment of children under five; • Provision of supplementary feeding for severely malnourished children
The objectives of the health and nutrition activities are:
• To increase body weight to normal level in children suffering from 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree malnutrition, by improving eating habits; • To improve the nutritional status of the project community, particularly of the pregnant and lactating women; • To improve health status through health education classes for mothers covering nutrition, health, hygiene and child care.

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