20-07-2017 | di COOPI

Nigeria: Fatima has recovered

The little girl in the photo is called Fatima. She is an orphan of only two years old: her father fell victim to a bomb blasted by Boko Haram in Maiduguri. Fatima arrived with her caregiver in the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition Centre located in the Potiskum Local Government Area (Yobe State, Nigeria). She was suffering from severe malnutrition: her Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement reported 10.8 cm and an initial screening assessment found a bilateral pitting oedema.
 

 

COOPI aid workers started to take care of both of them right away. Besides the treatment, Fatima’s caregiver received a Food Security Unity (a food basket), kitchen utensils, hygiene kits and corn soya blend as a way to improve the girl’s nutritional level. Such intervention falls under the EU humanitarian aid (ECHO)-funded project “Immediate humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable population hit by the conflict in North-eastern Nigeria”, aimed at improving the nutritional status of the most vulnerable displaced people and reducing mortality and infant morbidity.

After a year of health care, Fatima’s conditions have greatly improved, as shown in the header photo: her MUAC measured 13.8 cm when she was discharged from the Centre.