Aaron Jackson is on a mission to save every child in Haiti from starvation and malnutrition caused by worms living in their intestines.
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If you’ve seen pictures of a hungry child with a distended belly, you’ve seen the devastating effects of intestinal worms. The World Health Organization estimates more than 2 billion people worldwide are affected by these parasites, and 300 million suffer severe and permanent damage.
“Haiti is the second hungriest country in the world, with 90% of its children suffering from intestinal worms. These worms eat on average 20-40% of a child’s daily nutritional intake — causing high rates of anemia, malnutrition, and even starvation.”
This means that when children eat, 20-40% of the food is actually eaten by the worms — instead of being absorbed into their bodies. The result is severe malnutrition and even death.
But Aaron Jackson is changing that — in Haiti, as well as several other countries.
Since 2004, Jackson’s organization, Planting for Peace, has dewormed millions of children in Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, Guatemala, and North Korea. But it’s his work in Haiti that has received the most attention, after CNN named him one of its heroes of 2007.
The great news about Jackson’s work is that it only costs about one penny to deworm a child.
“Seeing these kids run around after being dewormed, it’s an amazing thing. And then you reflect that, ‘Wow, this cost us one penny,'” Jackson said.
Anderson Cooper interviewed Jackson recently about the progress he’s made since being named a “Medical Marvel Hero” by CNN. “Amazing! For the price of a pack of cigarettes, you can deworm a school,” said Cooper.
To learn about how Jackson’s deworming program is impacting the world — or to donate, visit PlantingPeace.org.
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Photo: CNN