The “Thousand Days Nutrition Project” aims to educate pregnant mothers and mothers with children below 2 years old in PPR Kota Damansara (PPRKD) with the knowledge about nutrition for the first 1000 days of a baby’s life, starting from pregnancy until 2 years old, at the same time supplying them 12 weeks of dry food and wet food. The first 1,000 days of life for an infant largely determines the baby’s health and wellbeing as they grow. If they are not provided with the adequate nutrition needed for them to grow optimally in the first two years of their lives, it will damage their physical and cognitive development and the effects are largely irreversible.
| 2020 Global Nutrition Report |
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| Malaysia is off course to meet the global targets for stunting (low height-for-age) and wasting (low weight-for-age) among children under-five. This means that many of our children under the age of five are not being fed the right amount of nutrition to recover from a variety of illnesses. Compounded with the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers in vulnerable communities are struggling to provide the best for their newborn children. |
This project is a partnership between IMU Cares through the Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, Community Transformation Initiatives (CTI) Bhd, Eastspring Investment, Prudence Foundation, and Graze Market. This partnership is an example of effective collaboration, bringing together expertise and resources from individual organisations, for the greater good of the community.
It was the partnership of Dr Snigdha Misra and Dr Tan Seok Shin in this project that won the Staff Achievement Award under the category of Partnership Excellence in Community Service. A total of five nutrition workshops were executed to raise awareness of the nutritional needs for their developing baby.
Their goal is to ensure that these mothers are aware that they and their babies need to consume a variety of healthy foods for optimal growth of their child. This is in line with target Goals 3 and 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG), which are Good Health & Well-being and Reduced Inequalities respectively. On top of taking care of the baby’s nutritional needs, the well-being of the mothers is also taken into consideration. Pregnant or lactating mothers are being screened for gestational diabetes and are being informed on how to manage it. A support system for mothers in the community has also been set in place for them to ask questions regarding what they have learned in the workshops and interact among themselves.
Through this project, we hope that these mothers can make better food choices for themselves and their babies. With the support system in place, we hope that they can also reach out to more mothers in neighbouring communities who are affected by the pandemic to bring about better health and well-being of mothers and infants. You can learn more about the partnership in this project here: https://www.mingguanwanita.my/ibu-mengandung-dan-bayi-antara-terpilih-mendapat-bantuan-makanan-inisiatif-cti-dan-badan-kebajikan/. Article is in Malay.
