What is the Orphan Nutrition Project?

February 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

So what is this Orphan Nutrition Project I keep talking about? If SPOON Foundation isn’t shipping vitamins to orphans, what is happening instead?

SPOON is spearheading an international collaboration to identify and prevent nutritional deficiencies of young institutionalized orphans ages 0-3.

The project will be piloted in eight Baby Houses throughout the country of Kazakhstan, in a region that is underserved by the international aid community, despite the demonstrated nutritional risks. Collaborating partners include the state-run Kazakh Academy of Nutrition and a local NGO, the “Kazakh Children’s Nutrition Foundation.” The project has the full support of the National Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan at its highest level.

The Orphan Nutrition Project will be the first time ever – worldwide – that the nutrition of orphaned children will be closely examined to create a model for improving orphan health and development through nutrition. Results of the project will be widely shared through publications and conferences, in order to catalyze change in children’s nutrition policy throughout the region and beyond.

The project will include:

1. Conducting a comprehensive feeding and nutritional assessment of hundreds of young orphans. Part of this step has already been completed, and preliminary results indicate there is a strong need for improved nutrition of orphans.

2. Evaluating the impact of dietary changes and vitamin and mineral supplements on the health and well-being of young orphans.

3. Identifying results that will inform and improve nutrition policies and procedures throughout Kazakhstan, and eventually beyond.

4. Developing a model that can be effectively replicated in neighboring countries and beyond.

5. Gaining insight into the nutritional risks of institutionalized orphans that will inform nutrition guidelines for adopted children in the U.S. This will be very helpful for SPOON’s Adoption Nutrition website which is currently under development and full of resources and ideas to help parents feed and nourish their children.

The first phase of work will collect and analyze information on the nutritional status of a randomly selected subset of children living in the pilot baby houses. The assessment will include blood tests for various vitamins/mineral levels, head/weight/height measurements, as well as detailed observation of baby house menus, food prep, and feeding processes.

During the second phase of the project, a customized nutrition intervention, consisting of fortified formulas and vitamin/mineral supplements, will be given to children in the participating baby houses.

Using assessment data and outcomes from the intervention, SPOON Foundation and project partners will recommend policies and procedures to leverage systemic change. Ultimately, the impact of this project extends well beyond the hundreds of orphans helped in the pilot. In demonstrating the nutritional needs of orphans, as well as the effectiveness of nutritional supplementation on orphan health, the Orphan Nutrition Project has the potential to advance nutritional policies and procedures impacting Kazakhstan’s 48,000 institutionalized orphans. Moreover, by developing a solid protocol for researching and implementing vitamin therapy in orphanages, SPOON Foundation will establish a model that can be replicated in institutions housing vulnerable children worldwide.

If you want to learn more about the project, be sure and watch our short video about it:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8YTrFCdCvY]