CINI has been able to distribute more than 300,000 kg of dry rations and 100,000 kg of CINI Nutrimix to the vulnerable people in 2021. Many were saved from starvation and many more were saved the life long effects of malnutrition and stunting throughout their lives due to this intervention
The first wave of the pandemic resulted in lockdown within four hours. The situation left many people without a regular income and without access to support services. There was a serious threat to the health, life and economic security of millions of people but the effect on poorer communities was acutely felt. The second wave of COVID-19 was more dangerous for all as it collapsed India’s health system of the country with thousands of people dying as they were unable to access support.
CINI responded quickly, using it’s network to set up a rapid emergency response to serve the vulnerable sections of the community who have been severely hit in this lockdown. We provided them with dry food packets and Nutrimix (a nutrition supplement, made by CINI which is also of prime importance as this product takes care of the additional requirement of nutrition for the children, adolescents as well as pregnant and lactating mothers) that are essential to sustain during the period of lockdown. Along with the essential food packets, hygiene kits are also a necessity to ensure the safety of the families as well as the community.
The increasing number of COVID-19 cases required more assistance to the government for better management of these patients. The system was struggling with the huge surge of cases with lacking basic medical facilities like beds and oxygen since most temporary facilities were closed down at the start of the year owing to the reducing number of active cases. CINI in this position stepped forward to set up ‘Safe Homes’ at different geographical locations all over West Bengal to cater to the most number of patients where there is an existing lack of health facilities. These newly set up facilities were equipped with COVID Care Essentials like pulse oxymeter, thermometer, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, nebulizer’s so that proper care could be ensured for the active cases with facilities to manage them. People standing in queue patiently at one of the dry ration relief camps in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, to receive kits.
Journey since 2020
This lockdown scenario has been very demotivating for a lot of people who have already lost their work, are in despair to provide basic amenities for their families and are constantly striving to live every day. But even in this time, CINCOMM staff as a family have stood with each other thinking of the greater good they are doing and responded to their call of duty first ignoring their well-being. In this COVID-19 relief work, they have been continuing supply to the ICDS beneficiaries in West Bengal and Sikkim ensuring their daily nutritional intake along with private partners.
The hurdles were aggravated this time like manpower utilisation, availability of the materials, irregular transportation, low supply of materials. The staff were duly mobilised and motivated and also trained to keep themselves safe and secure from contracting the virus and also spreading them unknowingly. It was also taken into consideration that the staff are vaccinated to ensure their safety with maintaining strict COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. It was also very important to maintain a safe and hygienic atmosphere at the production of NUTRIMIX and carrying out the relief work. The imposition of the lockdown scenario was different for administrative divisions which hindered the supply and availability of the materials for the relief owing to restrictions in transit and production. Liasioning with different level stakeholders as well as the local stakeholders paved the way in ensuring the smooth processing of procurement and distribution.
Reach
Since last year CINI has been able to distribute more than 300,000 kg of dry ration and 1,00,000 kg of CINI Nutrimix to the vulnerable sections of the society. This year till date CINCOMM has set up four fully operational COVID Care Centres. CINCOMM has reached to more than 2,800 families through its relief supports.
“COVID-19 was a new situation for us with the pandemic and the lockdown. But it was also necessary for us to pivot and utilise our existing capabilities to address the need of the hour. We managed to supply over 3,00,000 kgs of dry ration and over 1,00,000 kgs of our nutritional supplement, CINI Nutrimix. That we were able to reach so many people in need, despite the multiple challenges, speaks volumes of our commitment to the society and the spirit of service of the organisation,” says Mr Abhishek Choudhury, CEO, CINI COMMUNITY INITIATIVE