Meet Jyle Lorence, a three-year-old boy who loves to play basketball with neighborhood children. His family lives in a small house made from fly wood and metal sheets. Jyle Lorence’s father is a fisherman, but he has difficulty providing for the family with an irregular income. Jyle Lorence’s mother stays home to care for him.
Jyle’s parents have been unable to provide an adequate nutritional diet for their son, and he is malnourished. One out of five children under the age of five in communities served by our medical partner, International Care Ministries (ICM), 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 increase risk for potentially fatal childhood diseases.
Fortunately, Jyle Lorence began ICM’s malnutrition treatment program on October 17, 2016.
ICM runs a Home-Based Feeding program to provide nutrient-enriched food packs and ensure malnourished children get the right nutrients 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.
“We are looking forward to Jyle Lorence successfully finishing his studies some day,” say Jyle Lorence’s parents. “We hope he will grow up strong and healthy.”