The Abbot Report: Family Nutrition and Education at AHC

The Abbot Report: Family Nutrition and Education at AHC

AHC’s nutrition program, generously funded by Abott Laboratories and Direct Relief International, provides practical, hands on nutrition education and support to hundreds of Cambodian families each month. In the first Quarter of 2011 some great achievements have been made by the Family Nutrition and Education Program. Some include the education of some 20 AHC staff members about nutrition, providing teaching programs on a variety of topics to thousands of families, over 650 Families were provided with free food , washing powder and Transport assistance in order to reach AHC for over 500 families.

Furthermore, an AHC nutrition team member and Volunteer Withey Kroll made sure that a follow up survey was conducted on children that entered the hospital suffering from malnutrition. They checked the children’s health and nutrition status.

 Para’s story is a good example of how important the Family Nutrition and Education program is- The one year old boy was admitted to AHC because of severe Malnutrition (Marasmo-Kwashiorkor).He lives around 60 kilometres away from Siem Reap town. His mother died when Para was only two months old because of Hypertension. Since then Para and his five siblings were moved to live with their single auntie who is accessory and ice seller at that village. Until being 8 months old, Para was only fed watery porridge because his auntie couldn’t afford to buy the appropriate formula milk. Finally in the last 2 months he developed general edema, skin inflammation that itches and vomiting. At first, Para was brought to see a Khmer Traditional healer who spit on his skin but it didn’t help so his auntie decided to bring him to AHC. After being hospitalized for 11 days Para changed a lot! His skin became much better and he gained weight- He was admitted with 5.8 kg and height 65 cm and he finally went home with a body weight of 6.5 kg

On behalf of the hundreds of Cambodian children that have been treated this year and the Angkor Hospital for Children staff we would like to express our sincere thanks to Direct Relief International and the ABBOTT family for its kind donation and support!