In Bwa Nèf, home of the Lamp Health Center, malnutrition is a serious and ever-present threat to child health and long term development. The Lamp’s child nutrition program provides peanut-butter based therapeutic foods and other health services to severely malnourished children aged 6 months to five years old.
In the past, severely malnourished children who came to the clinic were placed into the nutrition program by the attending doctor, and the Lamp also conducted assessments in local schools.
But this year the number of children in the program has exploded to more than four times the level of previous years. One hundred and thirty five children were added to the program in the last six months alone. The reason for this is simple: this year marked the first time in which the Lamp has employed Community Health Workers to visit each home in the surrounding community. The CHWs, who make health needs assessments for each family, ended up discovering a great many children who were suffering from malnutrition. This was heartbreaking in one sense, but worth celebrating in another because, right now, about 40 of those children are back to a healthy weight and the others are steadily putting on the pounds.
The combination of outreach, through the CHW program, and child nutrition services have resulted in an incalculable benefit to the community.
The program costs the Lamp approximately $75 per child. If any reader would like to consider organizing a fundraiser for this program, please contact the Lamp at admin@lampforhaiti.org or call at (267) 499-0516!
Richanda at start of program
Richanda half-way through program
Receiving packets of therapeutic food
Ms Alissage, the nurse that manages the child nutrition program
