By: IPP Bureau
Last updated : August 22, 2026 10:17 am
Full immunisation coverage increased from 79% to 93%, while developmental delay declined from 18% to 7%
The Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA) has reported significant improvements in child nutrition, immunisation and maternal health outcomes across urban informal settlements in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), highlighting the role of community ownership and partnerships with public health systems in sustaining health interventions.
At its Dissemination Event 2026, themed “Sustaining Impact Through Partnerships,” SNEHA presented findings from more than two decades of community-based interventions, with stakeholders from government, academia, development agencies, donors, civil society and community groups.
In areas where SNEHA implemented direct interventions, comparisons between 2021–22 baseline and 2025–26 endline data showed stunting among children declining from 30% to 21%, wasting from 14% to 11%, and underweight from 28% to 22%. Full immunisation coverage increased from 79% to 93%, while developmental delay declined from 18% to 7%.
Maternal health indicators also improved. Maternal anaemia fell from 40% to 17%, early registration of pregnancy increased from 45% to 76%, and institutional deliveries rose from 88% to 97%. Uptake of public health and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) also increased.
Vanessa D’Souza, CEO, SNEHA, said, “This dissemination is not only about presenting outcomes, but about understanding, together with our government and community partners, what it takes for those outcomes to last.”
SNEHA said its approach is increasingly shifting from direct implementation towards a Sustainability Continuum, under which ownership of interventions is progressively transferred to communities while public systems are strengthened to institutionalise successful practices.
Under its community-led model, trained community volunteers work alongside government frontline workers. The approach was associated with further improvements in health indicators, including a reduction in stunting from 31% to 27%, wasting from 11% to 9% and underweight from 28% to 25%. Full immunisation increased from 84% to 92%, while early pregnancy registration rose from 45% to 64%.
SNEHA has also partnered with the ICDS through its Adopt an Anganwadi/Saksham Anganwadi initiative. Assessment data showed the proportion of mentored Anganwadi Centres rated “Medium” or “High” increasing from 13% at baseline to 53% at endline, while those rated “Very Low” fell from 24% to 3%.
The organisation's partnership with municipal corporations in the MMR has similarly strengthened maternal referral systems. Referral linkages expanded from one municipal corporation in 2007 to 10 by 2025, while referral tracking increased from 36% in 2014 to 84% in 2023.
Referral-slip completion improved from 78% to 89%, and appropriate referrals increased from 76% to 87%.