Mental Health & Care Practices

MHCP

Over the years, humanitarian ‘psychosocial’ programs have mainly targeted so called traumatized people.

MENTAL HEALTH AND CARE PRACTICES

Over the years, humanitarian ‘psychosocial’ programs have mainly targeted so called traumatized people. At Action Against Hunger, our field-action programs employ primary care model of psychosocial interventions and support by building family’s resources to optimally care for the vulnerable women and children.

The IASC (Inter-Agency Standing Committee) pyramid for psychosocial support and mental health in emergency and resource-constrained contexts guides the system of our interventions in order to increasingly meet specific needs of pregnant and lactating women, caregivers of malnourished children, and children below 5 years of age.

The critical determinants of undernutrition (e.g. maternal mental health, lack of early child stimulation, family conflicts, and domestic violence) add to the psychosocial vulnerabilities, where sets of Mental Health and Care Practices interventions, globally tried and tested, have been adapted by Action Against Hunger field operations to serve the community, families, and individuals in order to improve their nutritional security and reduce negative consequences of malnutrition.

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER TRAINS COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS

Action Against Hunger trains community health workers to educate pregnant and lactating women on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of a child’s life, as well as basics on infant and child feeding.Our training encourages and promotes playing and interacting with children so as to increase their autonomy and build their confidence.Other focus areas of the training include how to take care of sick children, raising awareness on good hygiene practices and educating mothers on preparation of healthy food and its storage in hygienic conditions. This is the kind of community outreach we believe can make a real difference in the fight against malnutrition.