Community Resource Centre for Women at Yalavatti

Early Initiatives of Auro Centre for Public Nutrition, Public Health and Public Policy

Auro Centre for Public Nutrition, Public Health and Public Policy is setting up a Community Resource Centre for Women for COVID 19 Protection, Gender and Nutrition in Yalavatti, a Gram Panchayat in Lakshmeshwar Taluk, Gadag District, Karnataka in partnership Technology Consultants (TECSOK) which is being supported by Infosys Foundation, Bangalore.

There is evidence that the nutritional/health status of communities has worsened during the COVID 19 pandemic, both during lockdown and post-lockdown, on account of unemployment/falling wages, and subsequent implications on nutritional status and health within the family, the burden of it falling mostly on women and children.

Studies have already shown that food consumption has dropped rapidly among the poor families, and there is bound to be a surge in malnutrition, anemia, low birth weight babies and wasted children, and all its attendant morbidity and mortality, and perpetuation of the inter-generational cycle of malnutrition.

 The Community Resource Centre will

• Provide information and awareness to Women SHGs/Community Organizations at community level regarding critical gender and nutrition issues, particularly for improvement of diets within families by explaining the importance of macro and micronutrients in daily diet; better health and nutritional status for mothers, children, adolescents and adults, so as to minimize the adverse effects of COVID 19 and its aftermath.
• Provide awareness to women about basic general principles of proper child, adolescent and maternal health and nutrition care, and the importance of hygenic sanitation and safe drinking water for proper health and improvement of nutritional status
• Provide knowledge and training to Women Self Help Groups as to how to prepare affordable nutritious energy food from locally available agricultural produce, such as ragi, green gram, soya beans, and wheat which can be produced by the Women SHGs for consumption by the community through sale by SHGs.
• Set up a micro production unit at community level to produce affordable nutritious multi-grain food