Fundación CONIN

1. Value your Health. During the year 2007 Fundación Conin and Banco Galicia developed the Program ´Value your Health´. This program aims to raise the mental, social and physical well-being of the target population by means of prevention, assistance and development of abilities. The program counts on three components. The first consists of the training of Social Leaders (teachers, health service workers, Associations' representants) in various regions of Argentina. Given the rolls these leaders play as promoters of local development, it is through them that the information will get to the mothers and their respective families. Specialists have also designed two pieces of support material: 1) A booklet for mothers which contains practical information and advice for them and their families. These have been designed and written in an easy-to-follow fashion using mostly didactic images. 2) A reference book for Schools and Health centers.2. Godfathership Project. This program consists of sponsoring children from 0 to 4 years and 11 months old, who attend the Prevention Center for Infant Malnutrition ‘El Plumerillo' in Mendoza and receive an integral treatment for them and their mothers. These children are minorly undernourished according to the corresponding indicators of weight/age/height and they live in the department of Las Heras in Mendoza Province, more precisely in the districts of El Algarrobal, El Plumerillo, El Resguardo and El Borbollón. The results obtained from the tests done in the areas of pediatrics, nutrition, educational psychology and speech therapy are processed in a special chart in order to inform periodically to each ´godfather´ about the development of the sponsored child and his family. During the year 2007 Coca Cola Argentina sponsored 90 children attending the Prevention Centre for Infant Malnutrition ‘El Plumerillo' in Mendoza. It is expected that other institutions will join this program for the year 2008!3. Conin National Network Meeting. With the conviction that infant malnutrition is a problem that we can and we must solve together, organizations such as Basf, Aacrea, Asagir and Aapresid reinforced their commitment in March 2007 signing an agreement to support a paramount strategic plan to strengthen Fundación Conin. This plan aims at supporting the existing centers, multiplying the model, and increasing the strategic alliances with other organizations. In this framework Conin organized the National Network meeting 2007 for the Conin Centers. The meeting was held in Mendoza on November 30 and December 1st. The objectives of the meeting were as follows: strengthening the links between the various centers, share good practices, identify centers needs and generate together the bases for the strategic plan 2008. During both days the foundation organized, workshops, integration activities and training courses for the participants. Directors of the centers as well as health and educational professionals attended the meeting representing the 15 Conin Centers that make up this network. The Meeting counted with the special attendance of Doctor Fernando Monckeberg, creator of the method Conin in Chile and who successfully eradicated malnutrition in his country.