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Nourishing our future: Tackling child malnutrition in Mumbai's slums

Perhaps the most shocking inequalities in growth and development between the elite and the marginalized play out in India's biggest metropolis — Mumbai, the country's economic and financial capital, where 36 percent of slum children are malnourished. Dasra, a Mumbai-based strategic philanthropic foundation, spent four months researching malnutrition amongst children aged 0-3 years in Mumbai's worst slums, such as Govandi and Dharavi. Almost counterintuitively, we found that malnutrition rates in urban India are often higher than in rural India and are, in fact, intricately linked with rapid urbanization, poverty, and illiteracy, requiring the urgent attention of policy makers, development practitioners, and philanthropists. Learn more.

Submitted by Dasra — Mon, 03/19/2012 - 01:00

Tackling malnutrition with community linkage (Dasra Part 2)

After four months researching malnutrition among young children in the slums of Mumbai, Dasra, a leading strategic philanthropic organization in India, concluded that child malnutrition in Mumbai's informal settlements is, at its core, a political and behavioral issue among key stakeholders — specifically, caregivers and public health care providers. The resulting research report focused on children from birth to age three and surveyed 50 organizations working with marginalized communities in Mumbai, including SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action), Mumbai Mobile Creches, and Apnalaya. In part two of a series on child malnutrition in Mumbai, Dasra offers insights into how caregivers' practices can be changed. Learn more.

Submitted by Dasra — Mon, 04/23/2012 - 01:00

Tackling child malnutrition with systemic change (Dasra Part 3)

After four months researching malnutrition among young children in the slums of Mumbai, Dasra concluded that child malnutrition in Mumbai's informal settlements is, at its core, a political and behavioral issue among key stakeholders — specifically, caregivers and public health care providers. The resulting research report focused on children from birth to age three and surveyed 50 organizations working with marginalized communities in Mumbai, including SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action), Mumbai Mobile Creches, and Apnalaya. In part three of a series on child malnutrition in Mumbai, Dasra offers insights into how the public healthcare system can be improved. Learn more.

Submitted by Dasra — Wed, 05/23/2012 - 01:00