|
|
|
Background
Intestinal parasites or “worms” invade a person’s body through contaminated water, improperly cooked food, poor hygiene practices and not wearing shoes. This is true not only in Kenya but in many other parts of the world where children and adults live “on the margin.”
Left untreated, the worms will grow in the person’s intestine and will eventually “clog” the passage of food into the stomach. Prior to that, the worms can “steal” up to 30% of the host’s nutritional intake. This condition can lead to malnutrition which in turn causes poor development in children, lethargy, a lowered immune system which results in an inability to ward off simple diseases like malaria, diarrhea, flu, etc. Also, certain medicines are not effective in people who are malnourished. Finally, this condition results in poor performance in school which is so critical to the futures of these children.
Kenya Partner Ministries (KPM), through it’s Meals For Learning (MFL) program, is taking a proactive approach to help reduce the impact of malnutrition on school children in rural Kenya. The program enlists the aid of churches to package high protein, high vitamin meals to be used in school lunch programs. Included in the cost of the meal is a deworming pill which is administered at the school. Through this program we are able to reach 700+ students.
|
|
