Dexter is a 20-month-old boy from the Philippines. He loves to play hide-and-seek with other children. Dexter lives with his parents and siblings in a small house made of scrap materials and bamboo. His father, a driver, has difficulty providing enough for the family. For this reason, Dexter is malnourished, weighing less than other children his age.
Dexter will be treated by International Care Ministries (ICM), a Watsi medical partner. One out of five children under 5 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.
“I hope that he can recover from malnutrition and become strong and healthy so that we can send him to school,” says Dexter’s mother.