Healthy children, Healthy Afghanistan Program
How the HCHA program works
Health-education activities
Agricultural-education activities
Learning and teaching activities
Outcomes
- 50,000 adults and children were targeted with interventions to boost food production
- increased access to food
- Addressed Afghanistan's issues of chronic nutrition and food security (key factors to countries underdevelopment)
- development of health workers on nutritional issues
- teaching about the 'right foods'
- increasing household agriculture
- nutrition classes for locals
- teaching about food security
- improve nutrition education through cooking demonstrations
- provide complementary feeding for children from the age of six months
- treated almost 7,000 malnourished children in eight districts across four provinces
- 4,400 community members were trained in gardening skills through educational gardens established at 22 health clinics
- 2,000 people learned solar dehydration and food processing techniques, food preservation and income-generating activities
-“Better Nutrition, Better Learning Initiative” material was distributed to more than 6.35 million primary school students.
- Food-based dietary guidelines were developed
Situation
- Afghanistan’s rate of child mortality was the highest outside of Sub-Saharan Africa
- estimated at 52 per cent stunting, 14 per cent wasting, and 25 per cent underweight in children under-five
- household food insecurity and unfamiliarity with correct infant feeding needs
- access to livestock, fruits, and vegetables was low
- only 54 per cent of children were being exclusively breastfed in the first six months of life
- Poor hygiene and sanitation practices and limited access to improved water
- cultural and traditional beliefs also prevented uptake of optimal caring and feeding practices