Keith Miles is a three-year-old girl who lives with her parents and siblings in a wooden house the Philippines Her father works as a laborer, but he has difficulty providing for the family. As a result, Keith Miles has been diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.
Keith Miles began $268 malnutrition treatment on October 19. She is being 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 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.
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.
Keith Miles’s parents share, “We look forward to seeing Keith recover and grow up healthily so that she can finish her studies.”