As a health worker in one of Laos’ remote northern villages, Ounkeo Xaythangded has seen too many children suffer because of a lack of food.
Ounkeo is the head of the mother-child and nutrition department at Nonghet District Hospital, the main health centre in a region that has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in Asia.
In her 14 years at the hospital, Ounkeo (pictured above) has seen many cases of children becoming sick and not developing properly because they are not getting the food they need.
“Children who do not get enough food are always sick,” she says. “They always have problems with their stomachs. They get fever. It takes longer to treat them compared to a healthy child. They are unhappy, they are always upset.”
The case that sticks in Ounkeo’s mind is a 20-month-old baby who died at home because she was not getting enough food.
The baby’s mother brought her to the hospital showing signs of malnutrition and Ounkeo and her staff helped treat her, but her mother kept returning.
“The child kept getting sick and coming to the hospital, before eventually dying at home,” Ounkeo says.
Every time a child dies it is a tragedy, but nutrition-related deaths are particularly tragic because they are preventable.
Laos has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in Asia. As many as three-quarters of children are unable to reach their physical, intellectual and productive potential.
They are underweight, wasting, or their growth is stunted. When a child does not get the right kind of nutrients early in life, the development of their brain and body can be permanently affected.
In Laos, children are born hungry. Malnutrition can start before birth.
Two in five pregnant women living in remote villages are malnourished, suffering from high rates of anaemia, due to a poor and unchanging diet.
Everyone knows a version of the saying “give someone a fish and they will eat for a day; teach them to fish and they will eat for a lifetime”.
In landlocked Laos, fishing may not always be a valuable skill, but the essence of this saying still rings true.
Instead of relying on seafood, families in Laos are dependent on agriculture-based activities to feed their families.
Unfortunately, many families in Laos’ most disadvantaged communities do not have farms that are productive enough to provide a balanced diet, leading to some of Asia’s highest rates of malnutrition.
When you buy seeds for a family in Laos, you not only provide a starting kit for a nutrient-rich home garden, you will provide training that helps families ensure their vegetables thrive.
Your gift of seeds can help end child malnutrition and give families an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Here are five reasons why you should give the gift of seeds.
1. You will help families that need it most
To reach the most vulnerable children, ChildFund conducts nutrition surveys in villages in northern Laos. These surveys identify children under five who are malnourished. Their parents are invited to workshops where they receive training from local experts and seeds to start home gardens.
Research has found that malnutrition early in life can have lifelong consequences, which is why young children are most at risk. Not only are malnourished children more likely to get sick and miss out on a happy childhood, they are less likely to excel at school which in turn reduces their chances of finding decent employment further down the track. This can impact families for generations.
Your gift of seeds can help prevent malnutrition early in child’s life, and put them on a course that can transform their lives, and the lives of future generations.
