Although his stomach is full, it's not filled with all of the nutrients this young boy needs to be active and healthy. Through OBI's new Vitamin Project, tens of thousands of children like him can now receive multivitamins their body's immune system craves each day. Research shows individuals struggling from malnutrition are lacking enough essential vitamins and minerals in their diet. However, it's difficult to accurately estimate the extent of worldwide malnutrition due to these individuals dying from other causes including respiratory illness, measles and diarrhea. Malnutrition may impair mental capacity by affecting cognitive ability, thus delaying the development of motor skills.
Individuals also have a reduced resistance to disease and take longer to recover from illness.
These factors increase the time children are absent from school and making it more difficult for them to be alert and interactive. Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1, B2, B6, B12, and Folic Acid make up this multivitamin. In one year of operation, 1.3 million vitamins have been given to orphans and poor children living in countries including Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Nepal, Romania, and the Ukraine. Recently, a school nurse and the JFK Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia were given 12,000 multivitamins by a mission's group working with Operation Blessing. The supplies will be given to children who have the most need.