DR Congo: In Gemena, Rebecca Overcomes Malnutrition and Returns to School

In Gemena, South-Ubangi Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Blandine, a mother of three children, Élysée (8), Rebecca (6), and Éternité (4), still remembers the difficult period her family endured. Living in poverty, without a stable source of income and with limited knowledge of child nutrition, she struggled to provide adequate food and healthcare for her children. Among them, six-year-old Rebecca, a sponsored child, developed acute malnutrition.

Rebecca's condition deteriorated rapidly. She suffered from swelling in her feet, severe weakness, and yellowing hair, classic signs of severe acute malnutrition with nutritional oedema.

“I watched my daughter lose her strength day after day and feared I would lose her because I simply didn’t know what else to do. When the swelling in her feet finally began to disappear after treatment, I regained hope,” Blandine recalls.

As part of its integrated development programme, World Vision DRC partners with the Gemena Health Zone to combat child malnutrition and improve children's well-being. The organisation supports health facilities with nutritional supplies, including fortified maize flour, soy, peanuts, sugar and vegetable oil, while also implementing the Positive Deviance Hearth (PD Hearth) approach to promote sustainable nutrition and hygiene practices within communities.

During routine community screening conducted by trained volunteers, Rebecca was identified as suffering from acute malnutrition and was immediately referred to a World Vision-supported health centre for treatment.

“Community screening enables us to identify children suffering from acute malnutrition before their condition becomes critical, giving them a much greater chance of recovery. But treatment alone is not enough. Through the Positive Deviance Hearth approach, families learn lasting nutrition and hygiene practices that help prevent children from relapsing into malnutrition,” explains Sylvain Sambo, Health and Nutrition Specialist for the Gemena Cluster.

At the health centre, Rebecca received therapeutic nutritional care using enriched foods prepared from maize flour, soy, peanuts, sugar and vegetable oil. Her health gradually improved, and once her condition stabilised, she and her mother joined the twelve-day Positive Deviance Hearth sessions organised within their community.

The training equipped Blandine with practical knowledge on balanced child feeding, household hygiene and how to prepare nutritious meals using affordable, locally available foods.

“Before attending these sessions, I never realised that the foods available in our own village could provide my children with nutritious meals. Today, thanks to what I have learned and the support I received, I can prepare healthy food for my family, feed my children properly, and even earn an income through my small fish business to cover some of their school and health expenses. I sincerely thank World Vision because my daughter is healthy again, and I now know how to protect my children's future,” she says proudly.

To strengthen the family's economic resilience, World Vision also provided Blandine with 50 litres of vegetable oil and 20 kilograms of sugar to establish an income-generating activity. After selling part of the supplies, she invested the profits in a small fish trading business, creating a sustainable source of income for her household.

Today, Rebecca has fully recovered. She has returned to school, enjoys mathematics, and dreams of becoming a teacher.

“I am happy because now I can play with my friends and go to school every day,” Rebecca says with a shy smile.

Rebecca's journey demonstrates the impact of World Vision's integrated approach to addressing child malnutrition in South-Ubangi. By combining early community screening, therapeutic nutritional treatment, Positive Deviance Hearth sessions and household livelihood support, the programme not only saves children's lives but also equips families with the knowledge and resources to prevent malnutrition from returning. Through these interventions, more than 1,600 children suffering from malnutrition have already recovered in the Gemena area.