Dec. 2014—“I just now came to know and believe that mother’s milk is the best for babies,” says Madina Qudratova, a mother of three young children from the Qubodiyon district of Tajikistan.

Qudratova and her husband were both unemployed from 2012 to 2013 and struggled to afford formula for their two older children. Because the children, 5 months and 3 years old at the time, struggled with illnesses, the family also had to find money to pay for medicine. 

But in December 2013 the family’s health improved notably when Qudratova learned more about child nutrition and the importance of exclusive breastfeeding to support healthy growth and development of newborn children.

USAID’s Maternal and Child Health Project operates in Khatlon province, where child stunting rates, an indication of poor nutritional status, are nearly 27 percent. The project helps to improve the health and nutrition status of women and children under 5; engages local communities, especially pregnant women and mothers, in health and nutrition discussions and links them with maternal, child and reproductive health services; trains health providers to improve delivery of quality maternal and child health services; and teaches schoolchildren health, hygiene and nutrition skills.

After Qudratova attended project training led by a community health educator, she changed her behavior and decided to breastfeed her youngest child.

“When I attended a health session for the first time, I was pregnant with my third child. I learned that breast milk is very important for children under 2 years old. It helps them to grow healthy,” says Qudratova. “Now my son is 5 months old and I breastfeed him. I also feel that breastfeeding brings my son and me closer together. I’ve also learned a lot about child nutrition and I have started feeding my older children more diverse food. The program has had a powerful impact on my family and I want to share what I have learned with other women in my community.”

The Maternal and Child Health Project, which runs from June 2013 to September 2016, has benefited more than 250,000 people in Khatlon province to date.   

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