SurfAid

10.10.10 Video.


About SurfAid:

In the Mentawai and Nias where SurfAid works, more than 70 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line and they have shocking health figures. For example:

+ 41% of children under five in the Mentawai are stunted and a further 33% are underweight. In
Nias, 34% are stunted and a further 34% are underweight.
+ There is a poor understanding of what constitutes good nutrition and good basic hygiene.
+ 87% of pregnant women in Nias, and 66% in the Mentawai, are anaemic.
+ 12% of Mentawai mothers exclusively breastfeed infants in the first six months of life.

SurfAid works with the island communities promoting health and nutrition programs, including water and sanitation projects, and disaster preparedness and emergency relief.

SurfAid is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2010. Physician and surfer Dr Dave Jenkins went on a surf charter to the Mentawai Islands in October 1999. The surf was excellent but he also found the Mentawai people suffering and dying from preventable diseases.

The infant mortality rate (children under five) in the Mentawai Islands is 93 per 1,000 live births – nearly one in 10. This is 15 times greater than in developed countries where, on average, there are six deaths for every 1,000 live births.

We are working in one isolated corner of the earth that desperately needs help. Please join us in our mission to continue expanding our program work.

You can learn more about SurfAid and donate at www.surfaidinternational.org