India: Adolescent Girl Outreach Program

RMF’s outreach workers (Community Nutrition Educators, CNEs) for our Malnutrition Eradication Program cover 600 villages and counsel pregnant and lactating women on their diet and care in addition to the mothers and families of malnourished children. The counseling of adolescent girls however remains a critical gap in the community, both in general reproductive health as well as nutrition. Since malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh does not exist in a vacuum, RMF’s team in India in 2012 started thinking of ways to reach these girls.

• Conduct workshops at 50 schools, reaching approximately 1,500 students.
• Distribute brochures and pamphlets on adolescence, nutrition, and maternal health to 1,500 adolescent girls.
• Train an RMF staff of 50 on adolescence and other topics for school workshops.

Topics covered:

• What is Adolescence?
• The Changes in Adolescence – Physical, Emotional, Psychological and Social
• Iron Deficiency – Anemia
• Diet in Adolescence – Importance of Diet
• Menstrual Cycle – Misconceptions
• Personal Hygiene