Passionate About
Fighting Malnutrition
What we do?
Miracles in Action helps to improve the nutrition of families, especially children under 5-years-old, through education in the areas of Cooking (recipes), Agriculture (gardens), and Nutrition (healthy eating) = C.A.N.
Problem
In Guatemala, half of the children under age five suffer the devastating effects of malnutrition. In rural, indigenous communities, up to 80% are impacted by malnutrition, which can cause irreversible damage to brain development, affecting learning.
Malnutrition causes stunted growth and leads to diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity and high blood pressure.
133cm
Normal height for a 9 year old. According to W.H.O.
9-year-old children with malnutrition from
Quiché, Guatemala
133cm
Normal height for a 9 year old. According to W.H.O.
9-year-old well-nourished children, also from Quiché, Guatemala but raised in USA.
Face of Malnutrition?
Mothers often don't know their children are malnourished. You can't always tell by outward appearance. Diagnosing malnutrition is done by comparing height/weight for age.
Project C.A.N. provides:
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Cooking classes with easy-to-follow recipes.
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Agriculture guidance to create gardens.
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Nutrition education to teach healthy rainbow foods and meals.
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How we work:
We accomplish our mission to improve access to nutrition education for women in rural communities in Guatemala by:
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Development of evidence-based, colorful and validaded nutrition educational materials.
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Train-the-trainers workshops to increase the knoweldge and skills of NGO´s Health Promoters so they can replicate workshops thorughout Guatemala.
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Free educational materials at: www.ProyectoCAN.org
Nutri Listo
Collaborating with Listo - Combating Infant Malnutrition with Affordable and Accessible Healthy Snacks
Listo is a Guatemalan charitable foundation and social enterprise that, in partnership with the Nutrition Research Institute INCAP, developed a peanut butter milk base supplement called Nutri Listo. This supplement is specifically designed to prevent and treat chronic infant malnutrition. Distributed through pharmacies, women’s networks, and NGOs across Guatemala, Nutri Listo reaches thousands of children every day, providing them with the vital micronutrients necessary for proper brain development and lifelong health.
Miracles in Action proudly supports Nutri Listo to ensure that children have access to a healthy snack option versus candy, chips and sodas sold at corner stores.
Agriculture Support
Along with our partner non-profits, we are working in a variety of areas to promote better and more varied food choices:
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We work with ECHO in fight global malnutrition through educational resources and training (https://echonet.org/).
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Supporting agriculture projects with Semilla Nueva for Quality Protein Maize (https://semillanueva.org/)
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Seed harvesting, seed banks, and family gardens with The Ripple Effect (https://www.therippleeffectinc.org/)
