Wadia Hospitals Celebrated World Children’s Day with UNICEF by going ‘Blue’

On the occasion of World Children’s Day Wadia Hospitals aligned with the #GOBLUE campaign for children in collaboration with UNICEF. The Hospital supported the campaign by lighting up their entire heritage building in Blue. The theme was celebrated with cake cutting and goodies distribution for all children in the Hospital. Children who are fighting malnutrition, disabilities, cardiac problems and cancer were present during the event. To support the campaign Mr. Ness Wadia, MD, Wadia, Celina Wadia, Wife of Jeh Wadia, CEO of Wadia Hospital Dr.Minnie Bodhanwala, Rajalakshmi Nair, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Maharashtra and all Doctors and staff were dressed in blue.

World Children’s Day is an annual global moment ‘for children, by the children’. In 2018, UNICEF India is focusing on amplifying the voices of children on Making schools a supportive environment for every boy and girl irrespective of their background, gender or ability.

Wadia Hospital is India’s first Paediatric Hospital and was built in the honour of Bai Jerbai Wadia in 1928. It has been at the forefront of providing quality healthcare for over a decade. The Hospital aims to provide the best possible care and help children live, laugh and learn.

With more than 35 super specialities the Hospital also focuses on empowerment of Children with special needs and has dedicated centres for learning and development of children suffering from disabilities like blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, autism etc.

On this occasion Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief, UNICEF Maharashtra says, “‘UNICEF is partnering with Bai Jerbai Wadia Children’s hospital, a leading hospital for Paediatric care for underprivileged in India by establishing a state of the art centre for Management of Children with Severe acute malnutrition. This program will also provide mentoring and coaching support in improving the practices for infant & young child feeding and Early Childhood Development. I take this opportunity to thank the Wadia hospitals for aligning with the Go Blue campaign for children. The hospital is lit up in blue to give the message that reduction in Malnutrition will go a long way in the holistic development of the children, paving the way for a healthy start to learning in schools” .

Mr. Ness Wadia, MD, Wadia Group says, “Prevention of malnutrition and eradicating it from the roots is among the key focus areas for Wadia Group as we have undertaken several projects across nutrition-deficient regions of the country. Nutrition builds a strong foundation on which the future and prosperity of the country depends. Wadia Hospitals has been leading our efforts towards eradicating malnutrition and I thank UNICEF for partnering with the hospital in our quest to eliminate childhood hunger. This issue needs urgent attention and collective response and I hope that more and more representatives from social and corporate sector come forward and join us in achieving our objective to see a malnutrition-free India.”

Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals says, “Wadia Hospitals whole heartedly supports the cause for World Children’s Day. By going blue we are further showcasing our commitment to our children and the community at large. All children deserve a right to education and good health. UNICEF is doing an excellent job by spreading awareness and empowering the Children with a right to demand. We are excited and proud to work in partnership with UNICEF”.

Rajalakshmi Nair, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Maharashtra says, “Child undernutrition affects overall growth and development of young children. We want to provide fair chance to every child. Partnership with Wadia children hospital provides an unique opportunity for children with best possible start. As a centre of excellence the blue theme expresses that every child has optimal development and fair chance to learn. Our Country is committed to make India Malnutrition Free and Wadia children hospital can play a significant role in providing quality care for most vulnerable children as well as opportunity for quality teaching and learning of Public health professionals.We value the Partnership for larger agenda” .

The Hospital on this occasion also announced a fundraising campaign with Ketto an online crowdfunding platform with an aim to empower at least 500 children with disabilities like blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, autism etc. One can support this campaign by visiting http://ket.to/goblue.

WHY World Children’s Day?

November 20th is the United Nations ‘Universal Children’s Day’, the day when the most widely ratified human right treaty in history, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, was adopted. November 20th is a date to celebrate the progress made for children, hold leaders to account on promises made to children and address the work that still needs to be done. The 2018 campaign of GOBLUE is aimed to reach more than 1 billion people across the globe to to play their part in building a world where every child is in school, safe from harm and can fulfill their potential.