• “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

    Hippocrates

  • “Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.”

    Josh Billings

  • "The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system."

    Robert C. Peale

  • "our state of health or disease is really a reflection of the environment we all live in. And the environment we perceive."

    Darnell Houston

  • "The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition"

    Thomas Edison

  • "The part can never be well unless the whole is well"

    Plato

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Our Vision

Creating a world where children know & use nutrition as a medicine for therapeutic remedy for illness.

Our Mission

To help children & their mothers maximise their productivity throughout life by offering available alternatives for proper nutrition. Whilst providing education & training, with the aim of encouraging them to take their health into their kitchens.

Aurora Children’s Foundation (ACFN) was founded by Aurora Rupp, a nutritionist from Harrogate, England.

In 2010 Aurora worked on a Paediatric Oncology Ward in Kampala, Uganda. She was saddened to see that as well as battling cancer, many of the children were having to cope with malnutrition. This was the only place in Uganda able to treat people from low income backgrounds. Unable to afford the daily commute to the hospital, rural parents were forced to give up work to be with their children. This devastating loss of income meant parents became unable to afford to feed their families. As a result these very sick children were dying of malnutrition – something completely preventable.

Deeply moved by what she saw, Aurora felt compelled to do something. Using her skills as a nutritionist she designed a menu for the patients that was affordable, tasty and nourishing. Working with a Kampala-based food supplier, Aurora sourced locally available foods for the menu to ensure that the local economy was supported in addition to the families.

Today, the ACFN works with the Cancer Institute to help provide three meals a day for every child on the ward. Nourished and with full tummies, the children no longer have to worry about feeling hungry.

My life changed following my time in Uganda. I had to do something to support these brave children and their families. Now, not only do the children benefit from eating nourishing food, they have something to look forward to – their mealtimes.

The work we do also has a positive effect on the families. Parents can put their time and energy in supporting their children through their illness, rather than worrying about how to find them food. Children with cancer have enough to deal with. They should not be going to bed hungry. I want to put a stop to it.

It costs just £10 to feed one child for a month at the Uganda Cancer Institute.

Donate here

Background

Malnutrition amongst refugees

Read more about this...
14th August 2015/by ghopuk

Nutrition in Uganda

Read more about this...
14th March 2015/by ghopuk

Uganda Nutrition Action Plan

Read more about this...
14th April 2015/by ghopuk

Our Programmes

ACFN Children with cancer food programme

Changes in appetite are common with cancer and cancer treatment therefore our Food programme provides nutritious meals that patients will find easy to eat, such as poscho, matooke, rice, ground nut sauce all of which are nutritious. The food provided needs to be soft and easy to consume because a lot of the patients suffer from lymphoma cancers such as non-Hodgkin Lymphoma which can cause tumours around the neck. Ulcers are also common. (Click here to view menu)
With increased funding the more we can do!
Our long terms goals are to introduce enteral feeding for the paediatric oncology patients that struggle to consume food orally. Nutritious drink formulas would be a good option (Fresenius Kabi www.fresenius-kabi.co.uk )

BIDI BIDI REFUGEE CAMP NUTRITION PROGRAMME

Location of the Nutrition Intervention: Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, Yumbe District, Uganda.

Overall Goal: To create access to nutrition services through promoting food production & productivity.

Timeframe: One-year intervention.

Read more about the current situation in Sudan and in the Refugee camp.

Educate on nutrition

Education and training using available resources on maximising the nutritional value in food, treatment of malnutrition, identifying and training of at risk mothers (teenage mothers).

Distribute energy saving stoves and seeds

Distribute energy saving stoves and seeds to pregnant and lactating mothers living in the camp.

Currently there are no energy saving stoves for the refugee mothers. Mothers use fossil fuels like, wood and charcoal, for cooking, which degrades the environment and are a source of pollution. The smoke generated during cooking causes respiratory tract infections, lung cancer, irritation of the eyes and suffocation of the unborn baby. The energy saving stoves will reduce these effects a great deal.

Save energy

Save energy and increase use of stove as energy source for food preparation

Treat and prevent malnutrition

Treat and prevent malnutrition among refugee mothers and their children living in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement

Programming Opportunities for ACFN

    • Setting up an early childhood centre focusing on feeding children with acute-malnutrition.
    • Distribution of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF). These are are high-energy, micronutrient-enriched pastes used in any cultural setting for the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition.
    • Distributing Recyclable Sanitary Pads to women and young girls. Along with with lessons on how to make their own.
    • Setting up a Maternity Unit for the safe delivery of newborns.

Read more about the opportunities for ACFN.

Our Impact

The ACFN Children with cancer- Food Programme has been successfully running since June 2014.

50,094

The number of children ACFN has helped to date with the Children with Cancer – Food Programme

How to Get Involved

100% of your donations (minus transaction fees) go directly to the projects. There are no deductions for operating expenses.
Volunteer

We would be grateful to have people with skills and experience on board. fill out this form to register your interest.

Make a donation

Any donation would be highly appreciated.
It costs just £10 to feed one child for a month.

Contact us

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Testimonials

“It is matters less as to how big or expensive a purse is in order to give a helping hand to the disadvantaged, especially when it comes to the cause for children, but the sustained effort is what makes the lasting impact. This sustained effort, championed by the Aurora Children’s Foundation, is what has brought smiles to faces of children being treated for cancer as their parents were facing a double jeopardy of having a sick child whom they could barely provide for in terms of treatment and the basics of feeding this child. I am therefore thrilled to be a part of what makes this happen by ensuring that food deliveries are done on time from the markets to the Cancer Institute kitchen.”

Michael Kyaku ACFN food supplier

This initiative is one of the 5 top interventions that have improved the quality of care given. Thanks to this program it is now a guarantee that no child will go to bed hungry. This has directly contributed to improved nutritional status of children with cancer which has a key role in improving treatment outcome, boosted morale on the ward and reduced treatment abandonment.

Dr. Joyce Kambugu-BalagaddeHead Paediatrician

I became a Trustee of the Aurora Children’s Foundation in January 2018. Seeing the positive impact of our life-changing programmes first hand in Uganda was overwhelming and a truly humbling experience. Knowing that the foundation’s dedication is providing essential nutrition that otherwise wouldn’t be available or affordable to these children and their families is the most incredible feeling. It is a true privilege to be part of such an inspiring organisation and I look forward to working towards future projects to help these brave children.

Priya MohindraACFN Trustee
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