Children on Path to Health Recovery Through Nutrition Program

A five-hour bumpy ride through rivers, steep hills, and muddy terrain will take you to Harinai village, a

well-kept beautiful community located in the heart of the Siwai District of South Bougainville. Four villages form the Harinai community under the watchful eyes of Chief Noel Koipuru, a kind gentleman who has been serving as their paramount village chief for over a decade.

Chief Noel says more than 500 men, women, and children co-exist in this idyllic community. Nearby is a community health center and a primary school, the school is located just a few minutes from the village, and the health center is a half-hour's walk. Among the surplus of garden food, staple food for the Harinai and surrounding community includes bananas, yams, and vegetables, which are grown in their gardens.

Cocoa is also a cash crop that they grow and sell.

Although there is an abundant variety of garden produce, a recent study conducted in the community found children under five were malnourished, mainly due to poor diet and good hygiene practices.

This revelation paved the way for the Positive Deviance Hearth (PDH) method.

The PDH approach is part of the nutritional component of the Well Being Outcomes to End Violence, Enable Livelihoods, and Improve Nutrition (WOVEN) project funded by the New Zealand Government (MFAT) and implemented by World Vision.

It is a community and food-based approach with three interrelated goals that target children under the age of five years, aimed at reducing the prevalence of malnutrition among children under five years, building local capacity to treat malnourished children, sustaining the rehabilitation of children, and preventing future malnutrition among all children.

Harinai community is the pilot community for PDH to be implemented after ticking off all the feasibility criteria boxes.

‘’For the PDH approach to be implemented, a community has to tick certain requirements, one of the requirements is that 30 percent of children are undernourished in a community, the community must show commitment to support and participate and the house must be in proximity to each other, these are some of the feasibility criteria for the PDH program and the Harinai community has ticked all these boxes for it to be a pilot community for this program’’ said World Vision PNG Lead Health Specialist Ms. Ainda Piako Kepon.

Out of a total of 54 children under 5 years of age, 24 were identified to be malnourished. These children have now started the rehabilitation process where they will be required to eat a balanced meal from the four food groups containing different nutrients for 10-12 days.

According to Ms. Kepon, each day for 12 days, a menu consisting of a balanced diet will be weighed at 300 grams and given to the children to meet their required calories for each day.

‘’We have come up with different menus for the children and these menus contain nutrients that will be beneficial to these children, just like medicine that’s given in a hospital, this is medicine in food that we are giving to these children to help them regain their health’’ said Ms. Kepon.

The little ones have already started this process and are showing positive results with their weights. Additionally, awareness of good food hygiene processes, handwashing, exclusive breastfeeding, and family planning for the mother and their babies are also being taught to mothers and caregivers every day as part of awareness and advocacy.

Mothers including pregnant mothers have been bringing their children every day to be fed. Before each meal, the mothers are taught good food hygiene, and healthy cooking practices, and are shown practical ways to cook nutritional meals for their children and family.

Chief Noel was full of praise for this program as he understands the need for his community to be healthy and functional in all aspects.

‘’I am very grateful to World Vision for this program, this is the first of its kind and we did not know we had malnourished children in our community, through this program we have identified the need for our children to be well-fed and well-nourished and the food hygiene preparations also have been eye-opening as we cook food and eat anyhow, now we understand the importance of a balanced meal and good food hygiene and my community and I will support the program in any way we can ‘’expressed Noel, smiling. True to his words, and as a show of commitment, appreciation, and partnership, the Harinai community members built a small cooking hut and a toilet next to their church to use for cooking, cleaning demonstrations, and awareness sessions for the duration of the program.

Ms. Ainda Piako Kepon praised the Harinai community for their commitment and support and for taking ownership of this program.

‘’When we went into this community, we did not know where to start and where to facilitate our pieces of training and this community embraced us and showed their support by building us a kitchen hut for cooking and also a toilet, the mothers are also bringing food and water each day and we are just grateful to them for their commitment and support ‘’ said Ainda excitedly.

Ms. Kepon stated that after completing the 12-day rehabilitation process, the children will graduate with certificates for regaining a healthy weight and be recognized as well-nourished and healthy children in the community.

She however emphasized, that if there is no improvement after 12 days of feeding, the same cycle will be repeated until they show a positive and healthy weight.

Meanwhile, the PDH program is set to kick start next in the Bana District of South Bougainville and will continue into other communities to identify malnourished children and, give them a chance to bounce back to a healthy start.