Best research organization

Home - Research

FDI, recognized as the best research organization, seeks to foster a research culture by mentoring student exposure visits and internship projects, CSR funding strategies, grassroots actions, and policy development. “Targeted Interventions” for low-literate, remotely-living populations are a key focus for the Foundation. Towards achieving this objective, FDI is pursuing various research grant opportunities in collaboration with like-minded individuals and/or academic researchers and corporate partners.

As the best research organization, FDI fosters interdisciplinary and longitudinal research, documenting key scientific findings in peer-reviewed, high-impact journals. Research efforts aim to conduct need assessments in specific geographic areas and population demographics. These findings are then utilized, alongside Information & Communication Technologies, to design and pilot-test targeted interventions in specific contexts. FDI employs this strategic approach to enable evidence-based, participatory, and interdisciplinary actions toward holistic community development.

The best research organization secures Research Grants from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India.

Sr	Study Title	Principal Investigator	Grant No.	Budget & Timeline
1	Design and pilot implementation of open-access web-portal using machine learning for predictive analysis and visualization of maternal and child under-nutrition in India on NFHS data.	Arvind Yadav1	ISRM/12(137)/2020	₹5.3 million; 2021-24 (36 months)
2	Livelihood Status and Support Systems: Exploring Correlations among Road Injury Victims in Anand District, Gujarat.	Karthik Vishwanathan2	Adhoc/114/2017/HSR	₹3.2 million; 2018-20 (24 months)
3	Proof-of-Concept Field Trial to Assess the Impact of Polyethylene Wrap v/s Routine Cloth Wrap in Reducing Postnatal Hypothermia in Preterm and Low-Birth Weight Neonates.	Somashekhar Nimbalkar2	R.11012/02/2017-HR (Department of Health Research – DHR, New Delhi)	₹2.0 million; 2017-18 (14 months)
4	Testing Efficacy of Electronic Decision Support System to Improve Adherence to IMNCI Guidelines for Neonates and Young Infants by Medical Officers and Frontline Workers in Tribal Settings.	Somashekhar Nimbalkar2	5/7/1057/2013-RHN	₹3.4 million; 2017-19 (24 months)
5	Participatory health facilitation intervention and lactation management support to promote adherence to recommended IYCF practices in tribal Gujarat	Somashekhar Nimbalkar2	5/7/1058/2013-RCH	₹4.2 million; 2015-16 (24 months)
6	Community based Intervention for screening and counseling of perinatal depression cases (COIN-PND) among tribal community.	Anusha Prabhakaran2	Submission ID: 2013-0727 (Technically Approved; Not Funded)	N.A.
7	In-depth Situation Assessment and Options Appraisal for Promoting Targeted Adolescent (Nutrition & Menstrual) Services in Tribal Blocks of Gujarat.	Smruti Vaishnav2	Submission ID: 2013-0753 (Technically Approved; Not Funded)	N.A.

1Parul Institute of Engineering & Technology, Vadodara; 2Pramukh Swami Medical College, Karamsad

Research Grants from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had sanctioned a research grant titled “Participatory health facilitation intervention and lactation management support to promote adherence to recommended IYCF practices in tribal Gujarat,” for the period January 2015 to December 2016. Dr. Somashekhar Nimbalkar of Bhaikaka University (BU) was Principal Investigator (PI) for this project. Dr. Dipen Patel and Ajay Phatak of BU and Dr. Bankim Gandhi and Kandarp Talati of FDI were among the Co-Investigators.

The proposed research aimed at studying impact assessment of health promotion intervention on IYCF practices and growth patterns, and find potential association of its key determinants including, but not limited to, maternal characteristics, cultural norms, traditional practices, food availability and affordability, household food security, and community awareness and mobilization. The core objectives of the proposed research were (i) To assess key determinants of infant and young child feeding practices in the tribal blocks of Dahod district and (ii) To design and develop evidence-based, contextually relevant and culturally sensitive health promotion intervention to facilitate IYCF and child health seeking practices as well as to extend lactation management support through trained lactation counsellors.

Abstract:

Introduction:

Nutrition in the first 1000 days of life after conception has implications not only for the growth of child but also development of cognitive abilities and executive function. Thus in the long run it does affect the societal and national economies. Poor nutrition can have cascading effect on future generations ultimately affecting progress of nations. Gujarat, an economically thriving western state in India, has poor nutritional status indicators of under-five children compared to peer states in India. We did an interventional experiment in the tribal region of Dahod, Gujarat and assessed its impact on infant and young child practices.

Results and Conclusion:

The Behaviour Change Communication intervention helped improve breastfeeding practices in terms of early initiation of breastfeeding and colostrum feeding. It also helped improve timely introduction of complementary feeding in 6-9 month age-group. However, the intervention did not show any significant impact in improving minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diet. The simplicity of this contextual intervention enhances its replicability by leveraging the existing healthcare system. Given the low literacy, poverty, limited livelihood opportunities and high out-migration, complementary feeding practices need further exploration to understand social determinants of health.