Child health programs focus almost exclusively on prenatal care, breastfeeding and nutritional support to children through their families and communities. They do not reach the tens of millions of children living in orphanages and foster homes, nor children with disabilities who are so often kept isolated. SPOON exists to fill this gap.
SPOON has worked in 14 countries since 2008, using tools specifically designed to accommodate the unique nutrition and feeding needs of children impacted by disability and/or institutional care. Our tools have been field-tested with clear and compelling results, drastically reducing malnutrition and life-threatening feeding practices in orphanages, foster care and community settings. Having expanded on early successes in Kazakhstan, which resulted in national changes in nutrition standards and diet, SPOON’s impact spans Asia, Eastern Europe, and the United States, expanding to Bulgaria, Zambia, and Ethiopia in 2016.