As a health worker in one of Laos’ remote northern villages, Ounkeo Xaythangded has seen too many children suffer because of a lack of food.
Ounkeo is the head of the mother-child and nutrition department at Nonghet District Hospital, the main health centre in a region that has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in Asia.
In her 14 years at the hospital, Ounkeo (pictured above) has seen many cases of children becoming sick and not developing properly because they are not getting the food they need.
“Children who do not get enough food are always sick,” she says. “They always have problems with their stomachs. They get fever. It takes longer to treat them compared to a healthy child. They are unhappy, they are always upset.”
The case that sticks in Ounkeo’s mind is a 20-month-old baby who died at home because she was not getting enough food.
The baby’s mother brought her to the hospital showing signs of malnutrition and Ounkeo and her staff helped treat her, but her mother kept returning.
“The child kept getting sick and coming to the hospital, before eventually dying at home,” Ounkeo says.
Every time a child dies it is a tragedy, but nutrition-related deaths are particularly tragic because they are preventable.
Laos has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in Asia. As many as three-quarters of children are unable to reach their physical, intellectual and productive potential.
They are underweight, wasting, or their growth is stunted. When a child does not get the right kind of nutrients early in life, the development of their brain and body can be permanently affected.
In Laos, children are born hungry. Malnutrition can start before birth.
Two in five pregnant women living in remote villages are malnourished, suffering from high rates of anaemia, due to a poor and unchanging diet.