THE CONTEXT :
Cancer in children is highly curable if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. A large portion of these children come from economically stressed homes. They face a lot of challenges when it comes to treatment, accommodation, food, etc. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, and Post Graduate Institute of Child Health in Noida see hundreds of children visiting them for cancer treatment. Majority of these children are from low-income homes.
Among the biggest challenges faced by these children and one of the biggest unmet needs is the provision of good nutritional support during the aggressive treatment of cancer.
THE SOLUTION AND THE INITIATIVE:
This campaign of mine is being done in partnership with the NGO -Cuddles Foundation and aims to fight hunger and malnutrition in children from low-income homes by giving them a MONTHLY RATION BASKET. This improves their chance of survival by 70% and ultimately does save lives. The baskets are given to children at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, and Post Graduate Institute of Child Health in Noida.
This costs just INR 4500 per month.
What goes into the Monthly Ration Basket?
The monthly ration basket feeds a family of four. Each basket contains 33-34 items, including cereals, pulses, millets, nuts and oilseeds, ghee, oil, spices, milk, condiments, and essential personal hygiene products like soaps, etc.
Image: Shows the Ration Basket that is given to them.
Ration baskets and consequently good food make the medicine work, keep families in treatment, keep parents home, ensure reduced risks to the child, and give better immunity to fight cancer.
IMPACT STORIES OF HOPE:
All funding has 80G tax benefits.
ABOUT ME AND THIS CAMPAIGN:
My name is NEIL NAVIN VERMA. I am 15 years old and a Grade 10 student at the Sanskriti School, New Delhi.
I have undertaken this campaign to support children who have cancer and their families with a monthly ration basket.
I have undertaken this campaign because this is a critical element in the treatment of these children who go through the difficult journey of fighting cancer. Although there are several people and organizations that sponsor the treatment of financially stressed patients, there are very few that help out with an equally important issue - "THEIR FOOD AND NUTRITION".
Children from low-income homes are often malnourished. Malnourished patients respond poorly to medical interventions such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and/or surgery, with increased episodes of toxicity, interruptions in hospital admissions, and inability to take timely chemotherapy in full doses, leading to a poor response to treatment. Overall, malnutrition increases the rate of abandonment of therapy and doubles the risk of death due to cancer.
The cost to impact a child is only INR 4500.
THE HOSPITALS:
THE LOCATION MAP:
ABOUT THE NGO:
Cuddles Foundation brings holistic food and nutrition to underprivileged children fighting cancer. They work through partnerships with government and charitable hospitals that treat underprivileged children for cancer. Their nutritionists, trained specifically for pediatric cancer nutrition, are placed in government hospitals and monitor the child’s progress, create diet plans and nutritional charts, counsel their parents, and educate them in home-based nutrition. They provide children undergoing treatment with food, hot meals, nutritional supplements, and ration baskets as per their requirements so that the kids have the strength to fight their cancer. To date, they have partnered with 44 hospitals in 27 cities. In 2017, with the help of individual donors, volunteers, and the Cuddles Advisory Board, they were able to develop an app that would standardize the delivery of nutritional support across all the hospitals where they work. The Cuddles FoodHeals app is the first-of-its-kind platform that helps automate mathematical functions for a nutritionist - like calculating the grade of malnourishment, BMI, calorie deficiency, etc. The app also aids her in counseling, diet planning, and mapping the progress of the child through the course of the treatment.
TAX BENEFITS:
Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as Cuddles Foundation is a registered trust and you can avail of benefits under section 80G of the IT Act. Foreign funding is NOT accepted.
