Champion In The Fight Against Malnutrition: How Fortified Porridge Saved Augustinho

Seven-year-old Augustinho, who lives in one of the communities in the district of Angónia, in the province of Tete, in the centre of Mozambique, overcame chronic malnutrition after his grandmother received advice from the community health and nutrition committees to feed him enriched porridge in 2017.

Today, Mrs Dofole, 63, Augustinho's grandmother, says that she lost her daughter in childbirth, and the only way out was to take care of the child, who was then born with a low weight. She says she had to turn to Word Vision for help.

"When this child's mother lost her life, I turned to World Vision and she was accepted as a registered child. Since then, she was recommended to go to the community committee for health and nutrition that was working here in our community."

From the moment Mrs Dofole joined the group, she took the child to the weekly nutritional control meetings, where the boy received care. Thus, Augustinho received enriched porridge every week, as his grandmother tells us.

“When the ladies brought me into the group in 2017, I started taking the children to the weekly meetings where they were served the enriched porridge. Since then, Augustinho has recovered, I can say that we overcame malnutrition through that porridge and today, the boy is already studying”.  said Dofole.

As well as being a champion in the fight against malnutrition, he also stands out among the students in his community, as his teacher testifies.

“Augustinho's school performance is good, he is active in class, has a good command of numbers, behaves well and doesn't miss classes,” said Finiasse Mavoro, Augustinho's teacher.

World Vision's Health and Nutrition programs have been highly effective in reducing cases of malnutrition among children in Mozambique. Currently, 44 percent of children in Mozambique suffer from chronic malnutrition. One in every two children under the age of 5 fails to reach their full physical, mental, and cognitive growth potential. Malnutrition is responsible for one-third of deaths in children under five in Mozambique.