Malnourished children and adults have a reduced ability to resist infection and are less likely to survive common, treatable diseases.  Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year.

Here’s how we’re working to fight hunger and malnutrition around the world:

• Emergency response: During a food shortage such as the recent crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa famine, AmeriCares delivers nutritional supplements to ease human suffering.   
• Sustainable solutions: Ongoing support, programs and grants to help people suffering from chronic malnutrition in El Salvador, Malawi, Vietnam, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Eritrea, Cambodia, and throughout the developing world.

Vietnam: To combat high rates of chronic malnutrition in rural Vietnam, AmeriCares and its partners have supported a successful school-based  pediatric nutrition program  that has improved the lives of thousands of children ages 12 months to 5 years, and is expanding to help thousands more.

Cambodia: In Cambodia, where a 44 percent of children under the age 5 suffer from stunted growth due to poor nutrition, we supply high-calorie, fortified meal packs to support a program that has helped thousands of patients achieve major reversals in malnutrition. 

Malawi: In response to the catastrophic drought and famine of 2002-03, when one-third of Malawi ’s children died before the age of 5, AmeriCares built a therapeutic feeding center at Malamulo Hospital to provide life-saving nutritional intervention for severely malnourished children. The center continues to help about 100 children each month

Latin America: In rural El Salvador and Guatemala, children are often born underweight and suffer prolonged malnutrition their entire lives. We supply nutrient-rich meal packs to partners in support of comprehensive nutrition program aimed at restoring health and breaking the cycle of hunger for thousands of families. 

Ghana: The One Child One World™ project focuses on improving nutrition and health for hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children ages 0 – 18 months, living in 29 residential homes.