Honduras Initiatives PDF
More than half of the deaths of children under five in Honduras are attributable to malnutrition – either directly, or in combination with acute respiratory illnesses or diarrhea. A community-based nutrition program, Atención Integral a la Ninez Comunitaria (AIN-C) was first developed in Honduras in 1991. The AIN-C program focuses on the nutritional status of children less than two years of age, which is a critical period of time to develop cognitive capabilities, strength and stamina. The program has been effective in changing mothers’ knowledge, attitudes and practice related to child nutrition, child rearing, and care seeking and in improving the nutritional status of children. Through the Nutrition and Social Protection Project (P082242), the Bank is supporting the consolidation and expansion of the AIN-C services.
The AIN-C program is based on community volunteers (monitores), who monitor growth of children less than two, advise mothers on child care, home hygiene, and water usage, and provide basic curative primary health care services for common diseases to children under age five. Monitores provide services through a monthly counseling sessions, individual home visits to the children at high-risk condition, and referral of children with acute malnutrition to health professionals. The Nutrition and Social Protection Project aims to cover additional 1,000 communities in six departments with a systematic training and monitoring for monitores and promotores (promoters) at the community level. One of the challenges AIN-C faces is institutionalizing the program within the existent health service system by mobilizing and defining the clear roles of each and all actors (Unit for the Extension of Coverage and Financing, Children Program Division of Secretary of Health, Regional Department of Health, and local Health Centers).
An innovative approach of the Project is an introduction of a pilot “Early Stimulation Program.” The Early Stimulation program seeks to contribute to growth and development of children less than two years, by improving their standards of health and nutritional status and their psycho-social development. This will ensure that all the children are physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure, and socially competent. An impact evaluation in the selected 17 communities is expected to provide evidence for cost-benefit analysis for further expansion of the Early Stimulation Program at the end of the successful project implementation.
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