Education And Research

Some key projects carried out at the HCJMRI are as follows: 1. Program for health and nutrition of underprivileged girls from urban slums: Programs have been carried out over the years for improvement of health and nutrition of growing girls from urban slums. Supplementation for nutritional deficiencies, treatment of existing disorders, health and nutrition education and guidance for carrier, marriage and child bearing has been given. Participation and follow up of girls in the program is encouraged by providing academic help such as books and other educational material. As a part of these programs, community health workers have been trained for giving education to girls to help sustain the project. Education material and low cost recipes have been developed to sustain nutrition. Over 2000 families have been helped through these projects. 2. Prevention of cervical cancers in women with HIV: this program was started around 2005 and is still ongoing; it concentrates on women sex workers. Early detection and prevention of cervical cancers has been the mandate of this program and early stages of cancer are also treated through this program. Over 4000 women have been helped by this program so far. Also, health awareness about cervical cancers and sexually transmitted diseases is a major part of the project. Work in sex workers in red light areas is also a major part of this project. 3. Prevention of malnutrition in children under 5 years: Anemia and other nutritional deficiencies are very common under 5 years of age. Programs are being carried out for the prevention of anemia (substituting aluminium cooking vessels with iron pots, development and promotion of iron rich recipes), and improvement of calcium and protein intake to prevent malnutrition. Over 2000 children have benefited from these programs. We continue to support children with milk and have been doing so for the last 5 years. 4. Promotion of health of lactating mothers: Breast feeding mothers, especially poor women, are prone to developing anemia and calcium and other nutritional deficiencies. A program is being carried out to promote their health and nutrition through locally available, iron and calcium rich traditional foods, together with supplements for improving their health. Over 500 women have been helped through this program thus far. 5. Osteoporosis/ Brittle bones: Calcium deficiency is very common in the Indian population, especially in women. Fractures lead to pain and long term debility. A program for early detection of brittle bones has been carried out for the last 10 years at the HCJMRI. Over 11,000 people have benefited from it so far. Raising awareness about osteoporosis is also a major part of this program. 6. Charity Diabetes Clinic at the HCJMRI/Jehangir Hospital: The diabetes clinic at the HCJMRI/ Jehangir hospital was started in April 2011 and soon will complete 6 years. It has gone from supporting children with basic insulins to a truly holistic clinic where children are given all the care they need plus we also provide help socially, in their schools, home visits, etc. The clinic now supports close to 350 children. 7. Bone health program for children with Thalassemia: Thalassemia is another very severe childhood chronic disorder. Because of the blood transfusions that they receive and other hormonal disturbances, these children's bones are very weak. To help children with thalassemia, we are running a program for improving their bone health at the HCJMRI. 8. Program for health of rural children: Rural children still suffer from malnutrition and hence suffer in adulthood because of ill health and poor physical capacity and reproductive outcomes. We are running a National program across 6 centers in India to assess nutritional status of rural school going children, to study uptake of Govt programs and to devise strategies for improvement of health and nutrition of rural school children. Over 20,000 children will be helped by this program. 9. Program for bone health of post menopausal slum dwelling women: Women from the lower socio economic class are likely to have poor calcium intake and thus poor bone health. We are running a program in the Tadiwala slum for improving health of post menopausal slum dwelling women. 250 women beneficieries.

HCJMRI is conducting a National program for assessment of health and nutritional status (through anthropometric measurements, medical examinations, blood tests and tests of muscle function) of rural children to define the extent of malnutrition.
The program was started in April 2016 and will continue till 30 th March 2019. Further, imparting health and nutrition education to the children and caregivers and suggesting situation specific strategies to combat malnutrition are parts of this program. We also hope to provide supplementation with iron, micronutrients and vitamin D to improve the health of these children.

Aims of our program are thus: 1. To assess health, nutritional status and muscle function of rural children. 2. To test for iron and vitamin D deficiency as well as for growth factors in rural children. 3. Record the uptake and effectiveness of government programs run in selected rural centers. 4. Provide health and nutrition education for children, parents, rural teachers and healthcare providers, including teaching them charting of growth to assess poor nutrition. 5. To supplement deficient children with iron, micronutrients and vitamin D to improve their health. 6. To assess impact of supplementation after one year. 7. Centers where all assessments have been performed are Rural areas around Pune, Gujrat, Tamilnadu, Assam, Chandigarh and Chattisgarh.