Faith was born in the summer of 2019, in the Kibera area in Nairobi, Kenya. She weighed only 2 kilograms at birth, while an average newborn weighs around 3.5 kgs. As malnutrition has affected children of the slums in Kibera for long, her parents were not able to identify the need for extra nutritive care at birth. At 24 months old, Faith began showing little interest in food, and experienced a loss of appetite and diarrhea. She was brought into one of nutrition centres, supported by the major pharmaceutical corporation Glenmark. Glenmark has identified child and infant health as a key area for its corporate social responsibility across nations like Kenya and India. Nutrition centres like the one in Kibera use intervention strategies to tackle malnutrition that results from unbalanced diets, low access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Workers and volunteers at the nutrition centre determined that Faith was not only underweight, but showed other signs of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) like lethargy and low blood pressure. Diarrhea, often caused by contaminated food or water, can significantly worsen malnutrition in children like Faith. There were a number of intervention strategies employed by volunteers like provision of nutritional formula and easy-to-understand information to parents.
After 3 weeks at the nutrition centre, Faith’s weight increased by 1.5 kilograms and she showed more physical activity. Faith’s parents received extensive counselling on sanitation practices and ill effects of using unsafe water. They were also given simple guidelines on how to spot early signs and symptoms of common diseases and general decline in healthy development of their child. Faith was also able to receive out-patient check-ups on a weekly basis, due to the involvement of volunteers at the community nutrition centre.
Like Faith, more than 25,000 children with malnutrition have received treatment and care due to the social responsibility practice adopted by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
What makes Glenmark’s CSR policy appreciable?
Each year, approximately 5.9 million children around the world die before their fifth birthday. A devastating proportion of these deaths are caused by preventable diseases that worsen due to malnutrition. Everything from unsafe water, poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene also contribute to child mortality and morbidity. Glenmark’s policy has successfully combined necessary elements like community upliftment and engagement and simple, educational interventions to create meaningful change.
– Riya Shankar Sharma
Content Writer, OneBarrow
********
Note: The story of Faith is fictional. It has been created to highlight and appreciate Glenmark’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The motive is to encourage other organizations to do their bit.
