Greetings from Bangladesh! Right now I am mid-coast in southern Barisal with the incredible staffers from Save the Children. After a speed boat ride down a glorious and picturesque river to reach remote villages, we spent a remarkable and moving day talking with groups of women, seeing how the promises of the “Enhancing Life & Livelihoods” are bringing health and happiness. The ELL program has saved many babies and toddlers from disease and stemmed the tide of malnutrition in this region. It is a powerful privilege to witness. We’re heading up river tomorrow for our final day of village visits.
I am really pleased to have Dana Langham of Save the Children contributing to the blog today . Dana has been with me on this trip and has been involved with Save the Children since 2007:
Today the PepsiCo-Save the Children trip viewed a live demonstration of a community-based approach to treating severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Southern Bangladesh–in the Barisal District on the Ganges River.
What is SAM? It is the severest form of malnutrition and is associated with very high rates of mortality across the developing world. We were dismayed to learn, during our stakeholder meeting with UNICEF yesterday in downtown Dhaka, the capital city, that Bangladesh fourth in the world for children suffering from SAM (500,000 a year)!
Fortunately, we were able to see firsthand the result of a PepsiCo Foundation-supported study that Save the Children, with Tufts University, implemented to assess the efficacy of a community-based approach for treating SAM. Essentially, this approach enables mothers to provide therapeutic food to affected children at home instead of sending them to government health facilities. In the past, children with SAM weren’t making it to the facilities, which were considered too far, too costly and of low quality. Plus, Bangladesh mothers had difficulty getting their husband’s, or in-law’s, permission to travel away from home even to seek medical attention for a gravely sick child.
Today, we saw Community Health Workers (CHW) assess the progress of three children under the age of three recently diagnosed with SAM. The CHW measured the child’s mid-upper arm circumference, weight, and checked for fever and other signs of illness. (see photo)
We were amazed by the size of the crowds that formed, as fathers, older children and village elders closed in to watch the CHW assessment. We were relieved to learn that all three young children had gained weight since their last visit, thereby demonstrating high-quality CHW care.
Not only are these three children on the road to recovery, joining the 725 other children with SAM that PepsiCo Foundation funding helped treat, but now PepsiCo’s efforts are contributing to comprehensive national protocol on nutrition. We have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of children and together with Save the Children, the Government of Bangladesh, USAID and other development actors, we have the chance to save millions more if new national guidelines on SAM treatment are adopted in the months ahead!
This was a moving day indeed. And once we had the chance to absorb what we saw and learned, we remember just how grateful we are to PepsiCo for having the vision to invest in this breakthrough issue– that goes to the heart of survival for Bangladesh’s most vulnerable young children.
Dana Langham is the Director, Global Corporate Partnerships at Save the Children
