Little Fatoumata is no longer malnourished

Little Fatoumata, now a year old, was severely malnourished. At seven months old, she weighed only 6kg. She was sad, irritable, sickly, cried a lot, asthenic, not interested in playing, hesitant, and with thin arms and legs. She was frequently sick with diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria because of her low immunity due to malnutrition. She also cried all the time because she was always hungry; something her mother did not know.

As part of its capacity-building activities, World Vision supported the training of community health centres on the care of children, pregnant and lactating women suffering from malnutrition. Health volunteers were also trained on malnutrition screening and referral of children.

Thanks to this reinforcement programme that Diallassagou –a community health volunteer– benefited from, he was able to detect a malnourished Fatoumata and refer her to the CSCOM for appropriate care. Fatoumata was assisted with Plumpy'Nut therapeutic feed for several weeks. She gradually improved from severe malnutrition to moderately malnourished.

Today, Fatoumata has fully recovered and is feeling well. She no longer cries and does not fall sick as she did in the past. Her relieved and overjoyed mother expresses her gratitude: ''I thought my daughter was not going to survive; so much so because she was suffering, I was powerless in front of her crying. I felt sorry for her. Thanks to World Vision, my daughter has regained her health. My daughter survived.’’