SurfAid International News

Source: SurfAid International - www.surfaidinternational.org

Nutrition is Focus of Community Based Health Program
SurfAid’s field work has seen continuing developments and positive progress within the Community Based Health Program (CBHP) in the Mentawai Islands and Nias. Program staff continue to refine and adopt the Care Group model to the unique and often challenging nuances of the islands.

Nutrition has been the main recent focus of the CBHP and the nutrition intervention has been spearheaded by the PD (Positive Deviance) Hearth approach. Each Hearth (home fireside) session is a hands-on activity that tackles the causes of malnutrition by promoting positive behaviours.

Each session contains these main components:
•    Setting up the cooking, feeding and hand  washing stations
•    Hand washing
•    Food preparation
•    Feeding
•    Integration of health and nutrition education messages and practices

Participants and Care Group volunteers have been able to witness significant weight gains in a number of malnourished children attending the sessions.

Meanwhile, Mentawai CBHP staff did a study tour to the Sumatran mainland to observe Posyandu activities (the monthly mother/child clinic), and vitamin gardens have been established in several Mentawai target villages.

Indonesian Government Acknowledges Success of SurfAid's Malaria Program
The Indonesian Malaria Department has acknowledged SurfAid’s success with the Malaria Free Mentawai (MFM) program with SurfAid being invited to present our malaria drama in Jakarta, at International Malaria Day in May, and to be part of Malaria Day activities in Padang in April.

By March this year, SurfAid had delivered specially treated mosquito nets, education and parasite testing to more than 60,000 Mentawai villagers in some very remote locations.

In our current Nias Malaria Program, two sub-districts of Alasa and Afulu have been covered, with 2,398 nets, parasite testing and malaria education delivered to 4,398 people.

NZAID Visits Nias Programs
NZAID visited Nias in April to observe and evaluate their supported programs.

The monitoring visit was led by Merinda-Lee Hassell from NZAID’s Wellington head office and Gloriani Panjaitan of NZAID Jakarta. SurfAid Chief Operating Officer Andrew Judge also joined the visit.
The visit focused on high level meetings with key stakeholders and decision-makers in both districts of Nias and Nias Selatan (South Nias), along with visits to Puskesmas (local health centres) and villages to see nutrition sessions and the completed Watsan (water and sanitation) facilities.

The village visit to Hilamaetaluo was the highlight of the visit with NZAID being able to spot check on four nutrition sessions across the village. Each session was being managed by the community cader (volunteer) and each was a model for transparency, accountability and community-led actions.

The donors also met with the village leaders, elders and stakeholders who continue to demonstrate their great support for the health activities in their village.
The NZAID team was very appreciative of all the effort and enthusiasm that went into making the visit a success and they enjoyed meeting the SurfAid team and learning about our challenges and successes. 
Feedback from the donor was extremely positive and is seen as validation of the results now evident from the nutrition sessions, the Nias team spirit and great collaboration with local communities.

Merinda-Lee Hassell said: "It was super to see firsthand the Community Based Health Program and the implementation of the PD Hearth approach.  It is a very dynamic program and great to see the commitment of the villages in educating and improving the health of their children."

There was also a huge boost for our Nias team with the Nias Watsan proposal being awarded funding from the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Thanks very much Pierre and Pamela for your support.

About the International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for Surfing. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.

ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in La Jolla, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Mike Gerard (USA) and Karín Sierralta (Peru).

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