End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
This campaign is closed
End Extreme Poverty with Yoga
Project: Improve health for 50 malnourished children
Location: Villa Guadalupe, Managua, Nicaragua
Funding Goal: $5,000
Children in Villa Guadalupe live in impoverished conditions. As a result, many face severe health challenges including chronic malnutrition and anemia. 100% of children in this community have parasitic infections that lead to impaired absorption of nutrients and decreased immune function.
Early childhood is the most crucial period in the development of a child, and malnutrition during this stage has a life-long impact. Your support provides medical care, nutrition, and ongoing health monitoring for children, as well as sanitation and health education for parents. This project intervenes to improve health and open a lifetime of possibilities for children currently living in poverty.
The Community
Villa Guadalupe is a housing development on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua. This community was built to house the former residents of La Chureca, Central America’s largest municipal trash dump.Incredibly, the dump was home to more than 1,000 people who survived by sorting and selling trash. In 2013, the Nicaraguan government closed the dump and relocated these families to Villa Guadalupe along with 3,700 people who were left homeless by flooding.
What will $5,000 do?
This project treats 50 at-risk children diagnosed with clinical malnutrition and anemia, between birth and age five. The project also treats expectant mothers, typically adolescents between the ages of 14 - 17, who have high-risk pregnancies. $5,000 provides leadership and supplies for:
1) Baseline Evaluations
• Consultations with a nutritionist
• Initial laboratory exams and analysis of results by doctor
2) Nutritional Support
• Monthly disbursement of nutritional support including vitamin-enriched milk, vitamins, cereal/oatmeal for children and beans for pregnant/breastfeeding mothers
• Provision of iron supplements as needed, monitored every 6 weeks by doctor and nutritionist
• Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of child’s life through individualized lactation support
3) Health Tracking
• Laboratory exams and analysis of results by doctor
• Consultations with social worker and nutritionist
• Home visits from Manna Project International’s program directors • Quarterly testing of hemoglobin levels to detect, monitor and treat anemia
• Monthly height/weight monitoring
• Vaccination tracking
4) Behavioral Education
• Nutritionist-led educational presentations for current and expectant mothers establishing behavioral health changes for healthy nutritional practices
• Nutritionist-led consultations with mothers of children under 6 months to teach the importance of breastfeeding (currently at 35% in Villa Guadalupe)
5) Sanitation
• Monthly educational presentations of beneficial sanitation practices • Home visits to teach benefits of hand-washing
• Biannual mass distribution of de-parasite medications to approximately 300 program participants and their family members
Organization Summary
Manna Project International provides services in the areas of health, education, livelihoods and capacity development to combat poverty in underserved communities in Nicaragua and Ecuador. Our 30 programs benefit approximately 5,000 community members annually. MPI is committed to training and mentoring project leaders to ensure program quality and multiply long-term impact in the lives and professional development of volunteers and staff.