Armida Fernandez

Founder

Founder of SNEHA

Armida Fernandez is the founding trustee of SNEHA (1999)[1], an Indian non-profit working on women & children and healthcare from Mumbai.

Armida Fernandez is an Indian neonatologist who established Asia's first human milk bank at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital in Sion, Mumbai, in 1989, and later founded SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action), which works on maternal and child health in Mumbai's informal settlements.

She was awarded the Padma Shri in the Republic Day honours of 2026 for her work in maternal, infant and child health.

Early life and education

Born Armida Menezes in Dharwad, Karnataka, she completed her MBBS at Hubli and undertook postgraduate training at KEM Hospital in Mumbai.

Career

Fernandez joined Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital in Sion, Mumbai, and became head of its department of neonatology in 1977. Observing high mortality among infants whose mothers could not breastfeed because of illness or complications, she set up a human milk bank at the hospital in 1989 to collect, pasteurise and store donated breast milk. It was the first such facility in India and in Asia. She later served as dean of the hospital.

After retiring from Sion Hospital in 1999 she founded SNEHA, which works on maternal and newborn health, child nutrition, adolescent health, women's empowerment and the prevention of violence against women and children in urban slums and chawls. In 2000 she was elected president of the Mumbai branch of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

Recognition

Fernandez was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2004 and received the IAP-FIAB Fellowship in 2005. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2026.[2][3][4]

SNEHA

SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action) works in Mumbai's informal settlements to improve maternal and child health, nutrition and to prevent violence against women and children. It partners with communities and public health systems.

SNEHA reports the following, on its own site: