From malnutrition to hope: The story of Hawaou and Housseinatou
In Bertoua, where malnutrition affects one in three children, Hawaou has seen her daughter's health improve thanks to the UNICEF-KFW partnership
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Hawaou is a young mother living in the Plateau district of Bertoua. She has twin children, one of whom has been ill. When her daughter was 11 months old, she weighed only 4 kg and was much thinner than her twin sister. Hawaou struggled to provide her child with the nutrients she needed. Malnutrition is a common issue in the East Cameroon region, affecting about one in three children.
One day, a team from UNICEF and its partners, including KFW, visited Hawaou's neighborhood to conduct an awareness campaign focused on combating malnutrition. After identifying the malnutrition problem affecting Hawaou's daughter, the team recommended that she take her to a care center and participate in training sessions on how to prepare balanced meals.
Eager to help her child, Hawaou actively participated in the training sessions and educational talks at the Mokolo 1 Health Centre. She learned how to prepare meals and enriched porridge made from vegetables and fruit, as well as how to feed her children properly. Thanks to the program, Hawaou has begun to see improvements in her daughter's health; she is getting less sick and is now able to play and enjoy herself.
Hawaou is incredibly grateful to the UNICEF team and their partner KFW for their support in helping mothers, children, and the community combat malnutrition. She feels relieved and happy to see her daughter in good health.
"Today, my daughter Housseinatou is in good health. Before, she weighed 4 kgs at 11 months. Now she's healthy and her weight is back to normal," says Hawaou. "I'm very grateful to UNICEF and KFW, who have helped me in this way.
Like Hawaou, other mothers have also benefited from this programme to combat malnutrition set up by UNICEF and KFW. Thanks to this programme and partnership, thousands of mothers and children have been able to learn about malnutrition and gain access to health care and essential nutrients for their development and the growth of their children.
The programme to combat malnutrition set up by UNICEF and its partners, such as KFW, is perfectly in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2, which aims to eliminate hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
The story of Hawaou and her daughter Housseinatou is a concrete illustration of the impact of interventions to combat malnutrition carried out by UNICEF and its partners, such as KFW. Thanks to these UNICEF interventions, Hawaou has learned how to prepare balanced and enriched meals, enabling her daughter to return to good health. This type of initiative contributes directly to the achievement of MDG 2 by reducing the prevalence of malnutrition in vulnerable regions such as Eastern Cameroon.
In 2024, thanks to the efforts of UNICEF and its donors, 97% of children aged between 6 and 59 months received essential vitamins, and 72,543 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition, with a recovery rate of 84%. These figures show the scale and effectiveness of the actions taken to combat malnutrition and improve children's health.
