The combination of malnutrition and infection is
the leading cause of death among young children in developing countries. Malnutrition alone is estimated to account for over half of children’s deaths annually. In developing countries, approximately 183 million children are underweight-for-age, 67 million are underweight-for-height (wasted), and 226 million are low height-for-age (stunted).
India alone is recognised as being home to 1/3 of the world’s malnourished children. The children living on the streets of Kolkata can be regularly seen foraging for food amongst the rubbish piles, amidst the squalor of dumping grounds and fighting with animals and birds for morsels of food to keep themselves alive.
HOPE recognising the importance of positive nutrition as a daily element of our programmes ensures the provision of meals to all the children with whom we work and throughout our education programmes ensures that children come to understand the importance of a balanced, nutritious diet.
Lifeskills Café
The Hope Foundation Lifeskills Café, a vocational training initiative, supports the preparation and delivery of meals to all the children on a daily basis. We recognise the importance of projects working interdependently and so encourage all our staff to work in partnership with existing projects to ensure the delivery of our programmes.