Little Yesu was once so thin, frail, and malnourished that he could not even walk. Today, Yesu is a healthy and active three-year-old who is gaining weight steadily. He has come such a long way thanks to a World Vision nutrition program known as Hearth.

"Yesu would cry all the time and was very frail," his mother, Rani, recalls. "He was weak when he was born and I could not breastfeed him. We fed him sugar water and after a few weeks cow’s milk."

When World Vision staff found that Yesu was underweight, he and Rani were immediately enrolled in the Hearth program.

Malnutrition is one of the major crises facing children in India. The challenge is not just a lack of food, but also health and hygiene practices that contribute to low birth weight and malnutrition.

The Hearth program identifies children in the community with the best nutritional status and identifies the food and hygiene habits of their families so that the other women can follow them. During the 12-day sessions, women learn how to cook nutritious meals from locally available foods. They also learn about proper hygiene and feeding practices.

Yesu weighed just 10 kilograms when he came into the program and has since gained four kilograms. Rani is thrilled with his progress. To help sustain the gains from the sessions and also increase the income of the family, she also received a cow from World Vision.