Regina and Beatrice (see photos) are bright young girls who have recovered from malnutrition thanks to your generous support. They are among the many survivors of the devastation problem of child malnutrition who have been treated in the Global Health Partnerships (GHP) therapeutic feeding program.

Food insecurity is a daily challenge for families in this part of drought-prone Kenya. The volunteer community health workers (CHWs) who were trained by GHP weigh and measure young children in the villages so that children like Regina and Beatrice can be helped with a feeding program before they succumb to severe illness or death. Monitoring of child growth is done in the villages as well as the clinic. More children continue to be added to the feeding program, but others “graduate” and live healthy, active and productive lives.  

Hunger does not take a vacation for the holidays. GHP will continue to feed the hungry, treat the malnourished and ill, and monitor their progress during the holidays and throughout the year with your support. Over 95% of the donations that GHP receives go directly into program services!

Beatrice

A family receiving food with your help

Patricia arrived in the clinic seeking help for her daughter Katwili (photo), who is 10 months old but weighs only 10 lbs. The Global Health Partnerships medical team confirmed that she was markedly underweight (weighing only half the average weight for a child her age), and started her on the supplementary feeding program for children with severe malnutrition.

Extreme poverty, no food

The mother, Patricia, age 35, had stopped producing breast milk when little Katwili was only one month old. She substituted goat milk and a little porridge. She has not thrived. Patricia has 7 other children aged 3 to 15 years old. Her husband hauls water and sell it at the market. No one else in the family can work, and with the drought the garden produced nothing last year. The have a few chickens, but no other source of food. It is not only Katwili, but the entire family that suffers from hunger every day.

Drought and crop failure

Poverty and food insecurity have plagued this region for many years, but a severe and prolonged drought has greatly exacerbated the problem. Hunger and child malnutrition have increased, with serious health consequences, especially for the children. Patricia and her family have been unable to produce food on their land that had helped sustain them in the past. Global Health Partnerships is working with agricultural experts to find long-term solutions, such as drought-resistant varieties of plants, small-scale drip irrigation techniques, efficient water harvesting, etc. Meanwhile, we need your support to stem the tide of starvation and suffering of the poorest in this part of Africa.   

Your support can help

Would you like to help this family? For only $28 this family can receive enough basic food staples for one month, to carry them through this period of hunger. The program is administered by the head nurse of the clinic to help the most vulnerable families. Over 95% of the funds that are received by Global Health Partnerships go directly into the program services!

Naomi’s mother was pregnant and she had stopped breast feeding when our team found her with the assistance of a volunteer community health worker (CHW). Naomi’s diet consisted of mostly a corn meal porridge that was not enough to maintain her growth and development. The CHW, who was trained by Global Health Partnerships (GHP), recognized Naomi’s severely malnourished state and she was started on Plumpy’nut in our therapeutic feeding program. Thanks to your GlobalGiving donations, Naomi (shown in the photos) is now a healthy, normal well-nourished child.

Child hunger and malnutrition is a common problem in the poverty-stricken semi-arid region of eastern Kenya where GHP has established a therapeutic feeding program. Many of these children would die from poor nutrition and infection if treatment is not started. The first step is to identify the children who need treatment in the isolated villages. GHP has trained a network of volunteer village CHWs who weigh and measure the children, and help arrange treatment with Plumpy’nut or Unimix (a fortified corn-soy supplement used for less malnourished children). CHWs can also monitor child growth to assess the response to the treatment program. 

Your generous support allows us to continue this successful program and save the lives of children in the poorest families in the Kenyan villages. Over 95% of the donations that we receive go directly into program services!

Naomi in March 2011 after treatment in GHP program

Links:

• web site for Global Health Partnerships

In Kenya about 1 in 10 children die before reaching 5 years of age, and more than half of those childhood deaths are from starvation. Recent studies have shown that a community-based therapeutic feeding program, like the one established by GHP in Kenya, can provide very effective treatment. Most children will improve and recover from malnutrition after just 2 months of therapeutic feeding.

Global Health Partnerships (GHP), in cooperation with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, continues to distribute PlumpyNut and Unimix, high-calorie food supplements, to malnourished children in the Yata health district. A large portion of the funds for these supplements comes from the monies given through Global Giving. Furthermore, the work Global Giving has funded in the Yata health district has blossomed into a larger project to examine how different types of food supplementation affect childhood malnutrition. In this way, GHP hopes to find sustainable ways to address the chronic needs of the children with whom we work.

Nicholas Ndonye, the nurse at the Kisesini dispensary in Yata district, continues to run the program, including distributing aid and following the weights and progress of the children receiving the food supplements.

The residents of Kisesini, Kenya and Global Health Partnerships are grateful for the generous support individuals like you have provided to improve the lives of these children. While these donations are a tremendous help, still more is needed. A contribution would be a great help as we at Global Health Partnerships continue to make headway toward reversing malnutrition. Finally, please let us know how we may better present our story so that we can increase our base of support and better meet the needs of the children of Kisesini.

Rosina, shown in the photo, was one of the many young children who was found to be suffering from starvation from lack of food. Global Health Partnerships (GHP) has been providing nutritious fortified therapeutic food with very good results. Rosina is now a much healthier girl whose growth is improving thanks to your generous donations. In Kenya about 1 in 10 children die before reaching 5 years of age, and more than half of those childhood deaths are from starvation (malnutrition). Recent studies have shown that a community-based therapeutic feeding program, like the one established by GHP in Kenya, can provide very effective treatment. Most children will improve and recover from malnutrition after 2 months of therapeutic feeding. At a cost of only $45 a month, a $90 donation can provide the full treatment for a child like Rosina, with the potential to save a child from death caused by starvation and infection. The GHP Kenya project is based in the village of Kisesini in eastern Kenya. A group of volunteer community health workers in the surrounding isolated villages helps GHP find the poorest families with the most severely affected children, and ensure that they receive treatment and follow-up (growth monitoring). Thus far GHP has treated 160 children like Rosina, who suffer not only from hunger, but actual starvation (acute malnutrition). We can only continue this successful program with the generous support of our donors. Over 95% of the donations that we receive go directly into program services!

Mother and twins being treated for malnutrition

Volunteers weighing a child in the field

Links:

• See our web site for more information

Over 100 children have been successfully treated for malnutrition due to the generosity of the supporters of this project. Children like Naomi (photo) who came close to dying from severe malnutrition have recovered completely thanks to a $45 monthly donation for the food supplements. In Kenya about 1 in 10 children die before reaching 5 years of age, and more than half of those childhood deaths are from malnutrition. Children suffering from malnutrition sometimes die from complications, even after treatment has started. There have been no deaths thus far in our treatment group of young children, and we hope to continue this successful program with close monitoring of child growth and a continuous supply of the special food supplements until recovery of each child is assured.

Please let us know how we may better present our story so that we can increase our base of support and better meet the needs of the children of Kisesini.

A child being treated with food supplements

A community health worker weighing a child