COUNTRY
PROFILE:
India is the world’s
second most populous nation with 1.2 billion inhabitants.
It is a low-income, food-deficit country, and home to
nearly 50 per cent of the world’s hungry.
Around 35 per cent
of the population – approx. 355 million people
– is considered food-insecure, consuming less
than 80 per cent of minimum energy requirements.
Gross national income per
capita is US$971.5, the infant mortality rate per 1,
000 live births is 55.0, and life expectancy at birth,
respectively for women
and men, is 66.5 and 63.2.
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Map courtesy of FCO (UK)
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Nutrition and health indicators are
extremely low. Nearly nine out of 10 pregnant women aged between
15 and 49 years suffer from malnutrition and anemia. Anemia
in pregnant women causes 20 per cent of infant mortality.
More than half of children under five
in India are moderately or severely malnourished, or suffer
from stunting. This compares with about 35 per cent in sub-Saharan
Africa.
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the
third largest metropolitan area in India, with an estimated
population of 15 million. Roughly the same geographic size
as Dublin, Kolkata is home to an estimated 300,000 street-dwelling
children. These children suffer some of the worst forms of
violation - physical harm, denial of basic needs and child
labor.
GOAL HISTORY IN INDIA:
GOAL began supporting mother and child health care programmes
in India in 1977. In 1978, courtesy of a IR£30,000 donation
from the Department of Foreign Affairs, GOAL built a mother
and child healthcare training centre on the outskirts of Calcutta.
GOAL has since expanded and developed its work with local
organisations in a range of rural and urban relief, rehabilitation
and development programmes.
CURRENT GOAL PROGRAMMES:
• Slum Development
• Education
• Health Care
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
• Integrated Rural Development Programme
• Integreated Urban Development Programme
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