Kana is a playful one-year-old girl from the Philippines. She lives with her parents and three siblings in a bamboo and concrete house. Her mother is a housewife, and her father is a carpenter. His income is not enough to provide a well-balanced diet. Kana is underweight and her abdomen is bloated. She was diagnosed by our medical partner, International Care Ministries (ICM), as severely acutely malnourished. One out of five children under five in ICM communities is either severely or moderately acutely malnourished. Worldwide, poor nutrition is associated with nearly half of all deaths in young children. In remote communities and urban slums of the Philippines, the lack of clean water and unclean environments add risk to potentially fatal childhood diseases. Malnutrition can lead to a variety of other complications, such as attention deficit disorder, cardiac issues, and stunted growth. Fortunately, Kana began ICM's malnutrition treatment program on October 17, 2016. ICM’s Home-Based Feeding program provides nutrient-enriched food packs to ensure malnourished children get additional food to regain normal weight and achieve optimum physical and mental development. After identifying a child as malnourished, staff and community volunteers make weekly visits to monitor this child’s progress. To help sustain the health of the child, ICM's professional staff educate the mother, guardian or other family members about proper nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and organic vegetable gardening. The total cost of the treatment and support is $268, and Kana's family needs financial assistance. Following her treatment, Kana's bloated abdomen will recede and her nutrition will improve. Her family will have learned how to provide a nutritionally balanced diet.

Naing Soe is a husband and father of two sons from a village in Burma. His older son just began kindergarten. In November, Naing Soe was riding his motorbike home from work when an oncoming truck forced him to swerve off the road. He hit a tree and lost consciousness. An ambulance brought Naing Soe to a nearby hospital, where staff sutured cuts on his jaw and head. Two days later, Naing Soe underwent x-rays on his head and left arm, which was broken. His doctor explained that he would probably experience a long-lasting headache and advised him to rest. Naing Soe left the hospital, knowing that the mounting medical bill was more than he could pay. When Naing Soe returned home, he used traditional medicine to treat his pain. Unfortunately, his symptoms persisted. Finally, he visited our medical partner’s hospital, where he underwent an internal fixation procedure to heal his arm on December 8. Naing Soe works as an agricultural day laborer, and he is the sole income earner in his family. After paying for his emergency treatments, the family is in debt. Naing Soe needs help to pay his $1,500 medical bill. “I hope that my condition will be cured soon,” he says, “so that I can go back to work.”