Missing Out - World

February 2001
Landlocked Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert is one of the poorest countries in the world, and less than a third of its population have access to any health care. Malnutrition remains the main cause of maternal and infant mortality: there's a hidden hunger among almost all the women and young children, caused by iron-deficiency anaemia. It's an unseen problem, that slowly steals away the body's strength and immunity to disease.

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[mahwajuly86]

@1forestcat Great ideas. I was just thinking that donating iron tablets & food to societies with low socio-economy is not really the best help we can give. We should come up with ideas which will enable the communities to provide for themselves, without depending on donations. So that they can still sustain themselves even when the donations stop.

So I too think farming is where we can start. Digging wells & giving seeds. If crops grow, they will bring more seeds & the supply is continous.

[1forestcat]

We need to help these people dig wells, so that they can irrigate their crops, grow nutritious vegetables and fruit, and grass even, so that goats (source of iron rich meat) could graze. If these people could have meat a couple of times a week, iron anemia would go away. Vegatables are a good source of folate.

[jerami101]

Watching things like this always makes me thankful for what I have. Americans are very spoiled. Let's not forget that in these bad economic times.