Food Distribution

Today at the clinic we had the food distribution day. The distribution happens every other monday for malnourished kids 5 and under and also pregnant women. Every child and woman has their height, weight and mid upper arm circumference measured to see if they improve with the food they are getting. There were the most kids they have ever had today and we used all of the food that we had. The food is a corn soy blend that is mixed with fortified vegetable oil. The food is from the World food program and each child gets 3.5 kgs. First the children have ration cards filled out where we recorded all of their measurements and if they had any other problems like kwashiorkor. This is where the child has become swollen due to a lack of protein in their diet. After there cards are filled out they wait in line for their food which all had to be mixed and measured for each child. After 2 weeks if the child has improved they are discharged from the program and another child is taken in. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work today. There were so many people there that all had to get weighed and measured and given food it took the whole day to get them all done. It was really nice to see how many people the clinic is able to help by giving them food. Unlike in Canada these families can not afford to buy much especially anything with a substantial amount of protein. Meat is very expensive for them and this program is a great way to help the kids get the food and nutrition they need.