Good nutrition and access to health makes a world of difference

Every kid needs two things when they enter this world: proper nutrition and access to health services. Without both of these the chance of escaping the grasp of poverty is greatly diminished. But why? As it turns out nutrition is not only important for healthy development, it sets the course for life. Worldwide, one child dies every 5 seconds from a preventable illness like respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases and malnutrition is the underlying risk factor in 60% of all child deaths worldwide . This is tragic in every sense of the word. Children born into poverty are dying for lack of access to simple and inexpensive. For example:

• Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children aged 6 months to 5 years reduces the risk of all-cause mortality by 24% compared with no treatment. The cost for providing VAS to a child is less than $0.25/year.

• The cost of preventing one child death through immunization is about $300

• The cost of increasing school education one year through eliminating intestinal worms is $3.

• Cash transfer programs to supplement monthly income for high risk households cost less than $20/month. These programs when executed properly can help help to improve food security and prevent severe malnutrition.

When you break it down into small things that make a big difference suddenly the problem becomes less overwhelming and its easy to see how anyone can play a part in giving hope to others. Do something today!