Porridge saving children from malnutrition in Niger
PORRIDGE is saving children’s lives in impoverished areas of Niger in West Africa, according to Irish overseas aid organisation Concern Worldwide.
Read our 2023 annual report
Concern's objectives, activities and achievements in 2023 can be found in our new annual report.
Read the report
Knowledge Hub
Evidence-based learning, evaluations, research, guidance, manuals, tools and programme updates.
How your donation is tackling child malnutrition in Ethiopia
Concern Worldwide has worked in Ethiopia for over 50 years, to combat suffering and build resilience amongst communities.
Part of our work is providing lifesaving nutrition and health services, including to children who are suffering from malnutrition. Our expert staff are screening for malnutrition and providing vital treatment, including emergency therapeutic food that can rebuild a child’s strength and set them on the road to recovery.
Your donation can help children like Amburo* and Hawa*, who our team treated in a local health centre.
Fawzia* has seven children, including 9-month-old twin girls. Photo: Eugene Ikua/Concern Worldwide
Fawzia* lives with her husband and their seven children in a village in Amhara, in northern Ethiopia. Her youngest children are nine-month-old twin girls Amburo and Hawa. Fawzia’s husband works hard as a farmer, but struggles to find enough work to make a healthy income, and drought means that the crops he depends on are not as reliable anymore.
We met Fawzia at the local health centre, where she had spent three weeks while her twin daughters received treatment. She had brought the girls for a check-up, fearing that there was something wrong. She said: “My children would cry the whole day and night, and I could see that they were getting hungry. They were not active, they would get tired easily. I went to the health centre to help my children.”
Amburo and Hawa were assessed, and health workers determined they were suffering from malnutrition. Fawzia was deeply worried, and feared that her daughters may not get better. But she saw the girls’ condition improve when they began their course of emergency therapeutic food.
A young child is checked for malnutrition. Photo: Eugene Ikua/Concern Worldwide
She said: “At the health centre, they gave me milk formula to help them get better. We stayed at the health centre for about 3 weeks. While we were there, my babies were fed with milk formula and RUTF (ready-to-use therapeutic food). One of the changes that I noticed is that they started crawling, and this showed me that they were becoming healthier than before. As I stayed here, I got to receive hygiene products like soap, which also helped me.”
Fawzia was also given essential supplies and training on nutrition, so her children could remain healthy. She was delighted to receive the support from the clinic, adding: “The staff were kind to me, and they were encouraging. They provided me with support throughout my stay.”
By donating to Concern, you are supporting us to continue this lifesaving work, and to help families like Fawzia in their times of need.
*Names have been changed.
