In a small corner set aside as a CARE Therapeutic Feeding Centre in a large tent temporarily serving as a hospital in Sinabang, a slender woman named Nursanti breast feeds her 18-month-old daughter Famy.

Famy has been at the centre for three weeks, and she, her mother, her older brother and father are about to return to their home village.

She now weighs seven kilograms. That is 600 grams more than she weighed when she arrived. Not much, perhaps. But for a child such as Famy, who is under two years old, it is the difference between life and death.

A CARE health team came across Famy while out screening children in villages across Simeulue. She was extremely thin, weak, covered in scabies and with so little apparent energy, appeared ready to give up.

"For at least five months it was becoming more and more difficult to feed her," Nursanti recalls in a voice no louder than a whisper. "She refused to take food."

All health services in her village had been damaged in the tsunami, and many of the volunteers previously working at local health centres did not come back to work. Some had moved. Others had been so traumatised they felt they couldn’t work.

When she was admitted to CARE's Feeding Centre at the end of September, Famy was unable to stand up on her own. Worse, she had simply lost interest in eating.

"When Famy continued refusing to eat, the parents stopped insisting and more or less gave up trying to forcefully feed her at meal times," said Dr. Santi, Health Project Manager for CARE in Simeulue.

Staff at the centre encourage parents to stay with their children to learn how to feed them the high energy milk they need, and to see the benefits of providing a nutritious diet, not only for children but for the whole family.