Nutrition and Hygiene

Though The Project has been focused on the treatment and rehabilitation of the leprosy patients, during village visits medical staff observed that many of the children are small for their age and that hygiene standards are extremely poor.  In 2012 The Leprosy Project conducted a survey of children’s growth in seven of the villages.  Based on the survey, over 93%, of the children in these villages suffer from acute or chronic malnutrition.

According to the World Health Organization, “Severe malnutrition is both a medical and social disorder, successful management of these severely malnourished children requires that medical and social problems be recognized and corrected.” The Leprosy project has developed a strategic plan to tackle the immediate problem of malnutrition as well as a long term plan to improve food security, knowledge of good nutrition, sanitation and hygiene.

The Leprosy Project has secured initial funding to provide:

  1. immediate nutritional supplements for children with acute malnutrition
  2. a nutrition, sanitation and hygiene education program for families whose children suffer from either acute or chronic malnutrition
  3. the introduction of safe food storage methods to provide food during the dry season when food may not be sufficient
  4. the introduction of appropriate crops and small animal husbandry to provide new sources of food
  5. research to determine the need and viability of providing or improving irrigation
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The goal is to ensure that the nutrition level of the children living in these villages meets the World Health Organization nutrition standard which will allow them to develop normally allowing them to break the cycle of poverty into which they were born.

In addition to the nutrition program The Project continues to

  • Promote environmental and personal hygiene through education and volunteer activities
  • Build and enhance communal facilities such as public toilets, shower rooms with solar heaters, sewage drains and concrete footpaths, etc.
  • Provide environmental stoves and flues to individual households to prevent the house from filling up with hazardous smokes, and build water networks in some villages for piping fresh water to individual household
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