Guinea

UNICEF and ECHO save Guinean children with the Plumpy'nut programme

© UNICEF Guinea/2008/ Prata

This baby at the Salamani Health Center in Kankan has received life-saving treatment and a regimen of ready-to-use therapeutic food, thanks to a partnership between UNICEF and ECHO.

By Fatoumata Thiam Diallo

CONAKRY, Guinea, 22 July 2008 - Mamadou Cissé is two-years-old, but until recently, he weighed less than a third of what children his age should weigh. Approximately seven per cent of children under the age of five in Guinea are severely underweight.

After Mamadou's mother heard a notice on community radio about a UNICEF-supported medical centre in Koundara that was taking underweight babies, she walked three hours to get there.

"I went to see all kinds of traditional healers, but no one could cure him," Mariama said of her desperate situation.

At the centre in Koundara, she met with Doctor Amadou Tidiane Diallo, a medical student who is assisting villagers as part of the Plumpy'nut project - a new nutrition programme supported by UNICEF and the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO).

Dr. Diallo is among 204 university students and others who have been trained to fight malnutrition in Guinea. Within the first three months of this programme, approximately 2,000 children were saved.

The Plumpy'nut project

More than 6,500 children like Mamadou have been saved from malnutrition thanks to the Plumpy'nut project. The project's goal is to reduce mortality in children under five and recuperate severely malnourished children in the poorest areas of Guinea.

Through the project, malnourished children have been identified throughout 25 prefectures in Guinea and started on a regimen of nutritional supplements and ready-to-use therapeutic foods such as Plumpy'nut.

For about four weeks during their recovery, malnourished children receive regular checkups, while their mothers receive advice on nutrition and vaccination.

Establishing a national protocol

Today, the price of rice and other staples are difficult to afford for much of the population in Guinea.

In 2007, UNICEF and other partners conducted a survey on the nutritional status of children in Guinea. Because of this data, a national protocol on nutrition was established. Nearly three hundred officials, including 20 medical students, received the protocol along with other updated information on malnutrition.

After five weeks of treatment through the Plumpy'nut project, little Mamadou had gained nearly four kg. His appetite had returned such that he was demanding even more food. His mother was delighted.

With sufficient funding, UNICEF estimates that another 50,000 more children, in addition to the 2,000 already helped, could be saved from the effects of malnutrition.