CTV Calgary's Karen Owen went with a team from World Vision to Sri Lanka to meet some of the people who have benefitted from its programs and even more who need our help.
In part five of her series, Karen looks into a public health clinic for mothers and babies.
Mothers and babies gather early and line up for a twice-monthly health clinic in a village in Sri Lanka.
The clinic offers pre and post natal care for the mothers, as well as immunizations and regular checkups for babies.
The country functions on a combination of private and public health care but for many the private healthcare they need is simply out of reach because of distance and poverty.
The clinic is relatively new and relies on a group effort to provide services.
The equipment and building are supplied by World Vision, the salaries and vaccines are provided by the government and Unicef supplies the transportation for the doctor who travels to the 12 rural clinics.
The most common issue seen at the clinic is underweight babies.
To combat the problem, mothers are told to nurse their children more often and older children are given special nutrient dense cereal.
The children also face serious health and development problems from worms.
Most of them are barefoot so it is easy to pick up hook worms which, if left untreated, can cause anemia and dysentery.
In some of the more severe cases, malnutrition, stunted growth, and delayed puberty may result.
The clinic focuses a large portion of its time on the basics, treating and preventing waterborne diseases and malnutrition.
That focus is making a difference as the number of children who are considered malnourished is declining.
So far, Calgarians have sponsored over 1600 kids and in Edmonton, there are over 2100 sponsors.
To make a donation and for more information, visit the World Vision website.
http://www.worldvision.ca/cities/alberta-2012/AlbertaCampaign/index.html
