Vorheriger Tag Vorheriger Tag
Nächster Tag Nächster Tag
Day 6

A warm meal for a malnourished child in Nairobi

We are fed up with hunger! We are fed up with hunger!

A warm meal for a malnourished child in Nairobi
Day 6
Hot meals for children in a Nairobi slum

Seven-month-old Teresia weighed just 5.7 kilograms when her mother first brought her to the emergency room. The normal weight at that age is 7.6 kilograms. The doctors immediately put her on the local nutrition program. First, Teresia was given a very energy-rich paste made from peanut butter for several months. Later, she and her three older siblings received a hot meal every day in the nutrition center in the Mathare Valley slum. Her mother learned in various courses how to cook healthy meals for the family using inexpensive ingredients. The mother also learned a lot about hygiene and health care. Today, at almost two years old, Teresia is of normal weight. She is a healthy, happy child, can now grow up well cared for and has the chance of a healthy life.

Hot meals for children in a Nairobi slum
need
Hot meals for children in the Mathare Valley slum, Nairobi.
activity
The local staff buy local food and prepare nutritious meals for the children every day.
Measurable performance
Number of meals prepared and distributed to children in need.
Result
Children receive nutritious food and suffer less from malnutrition and undernourishment.
Systemically relevant impact
The health and thus the future prospects of children from poor families in the Mathare Valley slum are improving permanently.
background

East Africa regularly experiences periods of drought. These droughts often lead to extreme price fluctuations for basic foodstuffs. International trade relations also have an impact on local food prices. This influence is rarely good for the people in the Mathare Valley slum and usually leads to significant price fluctuations for basic foodstuffs. These fluctuations hit the poorest population of the Kenyan capital particularly hard. The little money they have is often not even enough for the bare necessities such as daily food.

Within families, it is the children who suffer most. For them, the (long-term) consequences of malnutrition are particularly drastic. The children suffer from developmental delays and are more susceptible to infections with long periods of illness. This usually leads to poor health when the children grow up.

Nairobi, Kenia
Day 6 Day 6
The good deed

The German Doctors want to use their assistance to combat the causes and effects of malnutrition and undernutrition in children. Depending on their age and degree of malnutrition, the youngest slum dwellers receive help in the nutrition center. Infants who are not breastfed or are only breastfed inadequately receive milk substitutes. Older children are given special food under medical supervision. Children who are only slightly malnourished or are at risk of slipping into malnutrition are also admitted to the nutrition center to give them the chance of healthy development. Training mothers in a healthy and varied diet is also an important part of the work in order to reduce the main causes of malnutrition in the long term.

AboutKenya
Nairobi
Nairobi
Capital city
46 790 758
46 790 758
Population
2.961
2.961
Gross domestic product per capita per year
142
142
Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

Nairobi is the only city in the world that has a national park within its city limits. At the same time, it is home to one of the largest slums in the world, Kibera.

About the organization and further information

organization

German Doctors eV

Website

http://www.german-doctors.de

Initiative Transparent Civil Society DZI Donation Seal

Further links