Zachary is a three-year-old young boy from the Philippines. Zachary loves playing with his toy cars. He lives in a small house made of bamboo with his parents and siblings.
His father is a fisherman and has difficulty providing for the basic needs of the family. As a result, without nutritious meals, Zachary has developed acute malnutrition. Fortunately, on February 22, Zachary will begin $184 malnutrition treatment.
Zachary will be treated by International Care Ministries (ICM), a Watsi medical partner. One out of five children under five in ICM communities is either severely or moderately 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.
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.
His mother says, “I hope Zachary can recover from malnutrition and finish his education someday and become a policeman.”
