World Vision: Baby Awa wrestles a lion

Thursday, June 8, 2017

I think that acute severe malnutrition is just as dangerous as a famished lion. At least that is the lesson that I have learned from the story of baby Awa.

“My name is Dib and I’m the mother of a 30 month-old baby called Ndeye Awa.

Tests carried out in November 2015 revealed that baby Awa was in the red, in other words the victim of acute severe malnutrition (ASM). She was very small and often refused to eat when I tried to give her something. She was just grizzling all day long and I was at the end of my tether. That was when one of the community relays in charge of monitoring infant nutrition asked to refer Awa immediately to the health centre in the municipality of Loul Sessene so that the nurse there could give her regular attention.”

Baby Awa is being fed by her mom in a feeding centre

Essential programmes are run on the premises to pre-empt and treat the cases of malnutrition detected in tests, such as infant nutrition monitoring, cooking demonstrations, and making enriched flour. These activities are all planned to help young mothers to feed their babies adequately and learn how to keep an eye on their babies’ nutrition.

However, despite the various carefully targeted campaigns and actions that have been carried out to address health issues in this area over the last three years, malnutrition remains a major challenge for the Loul Sessene area. The low level of household incomes is undoubtedly a factor, but a deeper reason that the scourge has not gone away is that the majority of young mums simply have not mastered the basics of feeding new-borns.

On a positive note, this year one of our communities’ dreams has come true: the malnutrition rate has dropped from 3% in December 2014 to 0.5% in December 2015. Local people are continuing to add momentum to the trend by turning out for the regular baby weighing sessions held by the community relays. And with support from the state, NGOs and technical partners, a procedure for referencing and actioning cases has been put in place at health facilities in order to coordinate the response.

Weighing session in Ndiangamba Health Post

“After she was referred to the health centre at Loul Sessene, baby Awa was closely monitored by the head nurse there for 22 days. The community relay staff were often dropping by the house to see if I had been feeding her well. After this period, we tested her again and observed that the situation had greatly improved: she had progressed from acute to moderate malnutrition. After a while I stopped needing to go to the health centre because my daughter was getting all the care she needed at community level, with the relays dropping off supplies of enriched flour when they visited.

I was also going along to the cookery demonstrations that the relays held after the weighing sessions, and the question and answer sessions in the children’s granaries that World Vision had set up in our village. With this support from the relays I made a big effort to keep my baby well nourished. Today, thanks to all the supervision, my little girl is eating really well and sometimes she’s there all by herself with her bowl, refusing to share with the rest of the family.”

Having rediscovered her appetite, baby Awa wrestles the lion and emerges victorious!

Food preparation and cooking demonstration in the health post of Loul Sessene

A happy weighing-in session at the Ndiangamba Health Post

Photos Credits: Pierre Daly Sène