We ensure nutritional safety and fight child malnutrition.
For COOPI Suisse ensuring nutritional safety means to sustainably reduce the malnutrition rate, maintaining an integrated approach that focuses on individuals, communities and institutions of reference.
We support the communities we work with, guaranteeing maternal and child health services, integrating water and hygiene components and strengthening the local capacity of the physical and economic access to food in terms of adequate quantity and quality. In particular, our work focuses on the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition of children under 5 years of age and of women who are either breastfeeding or who are pregnant. During the 24 months ranging from conception to birth, COOPI Suisse adopts the so-called “1000 days” approach. We enforce correct nutrition and provide supplements for pregnant and breastfeeding women, encouraging breastfeeding at least up to 6 months after the child is born. In order to be both effective and sustainable, our interventions are based on a community and participatory approach that involves and strengthens the main institutions, health establishments (at national and local level) and communities with which we cooperate.
COOPI Suisse’s actions are based on a detailed analysis of needs that aims to combat the structural causes of malnutrition. Moreover, thanks to the partnership with specialized research centres, we promote research-based-action and support intervention strategies with specific studies that can influence local decision-making policies and behaviours of communities.
