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. Surfaid runs its programs in the Mentawai Islands, 150km off Indonesia's West Sumatran coast, and Nias Island, 125km off the North Sumatran Coast. The local people in this isolated and unique island chain face many life-threatening challenges, with diseases such as acute respiratory infection, diarrhoea and malaria, and birth complications, taking a serious toll. Malnutrition is an everyday reality for both children and adults and natural disasters in the form of tsunami and earthquake add to the challenge of improving the health and wellbeing of the village communities.