Improving Access to Better Nutrition
CMMB has supported tens of thousands of individuals worldwide with nutrition activities that promote health, prevent disease, and prolong life.
The effects of nutritional deficiencies and malnutrition can be devastating for both children and adults.
- Globally, about half of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
- Anemia resulting from iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder worldwide.
- Anemia contributes significantly to maternal death.
Our global nutrition programs include both preventive and therapeutic strategies within households and at health facilities to improve the nutritional status of pregnant women and children. Our efforts are successful because they reflect both international best practices and local experience.
We focus on promoting essential nutrition actions, including:
- Optimal breastfeeding during the first six months.
- Complementary feeding starting at six months with continued breastfeeding to two years of age and beyond.
- Nutritional care for sick and severely malnourished children.
- Prevention of vitamin A deficiency.
- Adequate intake of iron and folic acid for the prevention and control of anemia.
In each community, health agents and technical teams collaborate to develop strategies to improve eating habits and nutritive intake, which reduces the risk of maternal and child malnutrition and anemia. Home visits, Mothers’ Clubs, and mentor mothers encourage the adoption of recommended behaviors by educating women and reinforcing the importance and benefits to them and their children.
The First 1,000 Days Program in Peru
Pregnant women and children under age five are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition, which contributes to poor outcomes for mother and child. Within our CHAMPS Peru initiative, the First 1,000 Days program supports two especially vulnerable groups:
- Babies from birth to age two
- Pregnant women
In Peru, anemia in children under five is widespread, impacting intellectual and cognitive development. Our programs there have reached thousands of children and their families. Pregnant women have been provided with nutritional supplements and underweight and malnourished treatment have been treated.
Successful nutrition interventions can break the chain of low birth weight, malnutrition, and poverty. Among children participating in the program, anemia incidence fell — significantly more than nationally. And among pregnant women, most CHAMPS program participants had fully recovered from anemia before their due date.