Mary Patricia Soans

Mary Patricia Soans

Founder

Founder of SNEHA

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

Mary Patricia Soans is a joint founder trustee of SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action), the Mumbai public health non-profit established in 1999 with the neonatologist Armida Fernandez.

A social worker by background, Soans has been active in social welfare services in the church and is a member of the H/W municipal ward federation in Mumbai.

Career

SNEHA was founded in 1999 by Armida Fernandez, then dean of Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Medical College at Sion, with Soans as joint founder trustee. The organisation works in informal settlements in Mumbai on maternal and newborn health, child nutrition, adolescent health and the prevention of violence against women and children, and on improving the quality of public health services.

Soans continues to serve on SNEHA's board of trustees.[2][3]

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:

  • 1,52,650 pregnant women assisted (2016-26)
  • 1,20,100 children screened for malnutrition (2016-26)
  • 37% reduction in stunting among children aged 0-3 in its communities (2021-26)
  • 78% of gender-violence survivors supported reported reduced violence (2023-26)

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