Every child is entitled to a healthy and active life. Usually in the rural villages it is rare that parents take their children for health checks. Normally it is when the child gets sick that the parents seek help at the medical institutions. In October 2015 Community Development (CD) project was started in Yuexi with an aim to improve nutrition and to provide health check for 200 children in selected villages of Matuo Township. In August 2016 the first round of health check was carried out for 200 children with the results showing that some children’s height or weight was not proportional with their age. During this health check some children were also found to have intestinal problems and they were referred to local clinics for further checks and treatment. 

All children like any other human being have a right to good health.

Educating the community is the gateway to making people understand the importance of being well.

A second round of health check was carried out on the 30th of August 2017 in Matuo and Dahe villages and it was done by the health personnel from Matuo Township Hospital. On the 8th of September the project also organized health check for children at Natuo and Hongguang villages. The same procedure of checking height, weight and drawing of blood was used in checking the children. A total of 200 children was checked in the selected 4 villages. The purpose of the health check was to check and obtain information in regard to children’s health conditions so that children with any problems or illnesses could be referred for further treatment. The health check also helped in providing awareness to the parents on what to pay attention to in their everyday care of the children. The report for the health check is expected at the end of September 2017.

Health check included checking of height, weight and drawing of blood.

The nutritional value of the families meals have been enhanced through the production of eggs.

Due to health and hygiene trainings provided by the project team the villagers have now improved in health and hygiene habits and they now strive to keep themselves and their surroundings clean.

The project team thinks this year quinoa production improved a lot as compared to last year when the villagers started the production.

Besides organizing health check for the children the project was also involved in other activities, such as household visits to check on the progress of the egg laying chicken, improvement in hygiene and sanitation and also to look at the productions such as vegetables and quinoa. From the observations made by the project team it showed that the families were doing well in the productions and that some households have also improved in terms of hygiene and sanitation. The project also provided training and actions related to health and hygiene.

Brief Project summary:

Community Development(CD) Yuexi is a community development project funded by the Baxter International Foundation. The main purpose of the project is to improve the health of 200 children through instigating better nutrition by supporting the children’s families in small scale crop production and animal husbandry and through providing health checks and referrals to health centers for children with health complications for treatment. The project also aims at building understanding and awareness of health, nutrition and hygiene to 1,200 local families by establishing 40 Health Action Self-help Groups. Since the start of the project 1,200 families have been involved in different productions and actions initiated by the project team. The families have managed to successfully breed egg laying chicks which have so far been laying eggs and has enhanced the nutritional value to the families’ meals. In addition to the chicken the families have been producing vegetables from the seeds  they received from the project. This year’s harvest of vegetables was big that some families could not consume all of them that they resorted to drying the vegetables so as to preserve them for future use. Through training and actions the project carried out together with the community the families have improved in health, hygiene and sanitation. 

The project is funded by the Baxter International Foundation (www.baxter.com)

The contents in this article reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the funder.