Nutrition

Through its school based lunch program, Fabretto provides a daily nutritional and balanced meal to every child and student. This initiative is one of the most critical components of our work because it addresses the high incidence of chronic malnutrition found in the communities we serve.  The lunch program is equally important because it supports Fabretto's core mission goal of effective education delivery by ensuring that students can concentrate on learning - and not hunger - while in Fabretto classes.

Thanks to generous food donations from organizations such as Feed My Starving Children, Cross International and Cargill and a lot of careful planning, Fabretto is able to provide a well-rounded meal complete with fruits, vegetables, cheese, chicken, eggs and other fresh, local ingredients for a cash outlay of only $0.30 per student per day.

Cusmapa Health Assessment
In June 2009, Fabretto undertook a health and nutrition survey in San Jose de Cusmapa and the surrounding rural villages to assess the health status of the youngest members of those communities. The survey was administered by volunteers, SAT teachers, and Fabretto scholarship students to sampled households where at least one child under 5 lived. The survey consisted of questions addressing the socioeconomic conditions of the family and the level of health and nutrition of the youngest child. 

Amongst the many findings, the survey found that on average, children under five were both underweight and short for their age according to the World Health Organization reference population. However, the children did tend to weigh the expected amount for their height.  To review the full study, Click Here.

A second report, issued in 2010 with follow up data on correlations between education, health and nutrition in the sam communities can be read by Clicking Here.