Mahmoud’s Journey to Recovery

“If you had asked me a year before, I wouldn’t have believed his condition would improve so significantly. But Mahmoud proved us wrong,” Explains Fatema, 42-year-old, about her son situation Mahmoud when he was born. “His determination to survive overcame the many setbacks he faced.”

The nutrition clinic in Azraq refugee camp has been a crucial support for Mahmoud and many other children like him. Their care ensured that Mahmoud not only survived but also saw significant improvements in his health. Fatema fled the war in Syria nine years ago and settled with her family in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. When Mahmoud was born, he was weak, underweight, and often sick. His body was too fragile to develop properly, leaving him severely underweight and struggling with basic movements. He only recently learned to walk at the age of three.

Fatema noticed something was wrong when Mahmoud was just four months old. "He wasn’t gaining weight like other children his age," she recalled. She brought him to the UNICEF-supported nutrition clinic, where health workers immediately recognized the urgency of his condition. They provided weekly checkups, ready-to-use supplementary food, and guidance on how to nourish him properly. By six months, he was diagnosed with acute malnutrition and placed on an emergency nutrition program.

Duha the health worker who has been following on Mahmoud’s case in the nutrition clinic explains that "At six months, Mahmoud weighed only 5.85 kg when he should have been at least weighing seven kilos. Malnourished children often struggle to fight infections, which drains their energy and prevents weight gain. By treating his infections and providing nutritional support, we helped him to start recovering."

To aid his recovery, the clinic provided with specialized supplement packs with essential vitamins. They also taught Fatema how to prepare nutritious, easy-to-eat meals like mashed potatoes, rice, carrots, and zucchini. Yet the recovery was not easy, it took Mahmoud more than 1 year to start showing progress and improvement.

Fatema expressed her gratitude: "The best day of my life was when Mahmoud started crawling. The clinic’s support saved his life. I couldn’t have done it alone."

While Mahmoud continues his journey to full recovery, his story is a testament to the life-changing impact of proper nutrition and early medical intervention. Through the dedication of the clinic staff, children like Mahmoud have a chance at a healthier future.

Fatema dreams of a better future for Mahmoud: "I want him to grow up healthy, to walk and play like other children, to go to school and have a future. I don’t want him to be bound to a wheelchair. I pray that he will experience a childhood free from suffering."

The UNICEF-supported Infant and Young Child Feeding programme provides nutrition counselling and education services to mothers focusing on the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding, and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. In Addition to Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) program in camps. The programme also targets early detection of malnutrition in children to avoid long-term effects with administration of Ready to Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) as a treatment when needed.

UNICEF is grateful for the United States Government for generously supporting the Infant and Young Child Feeding programme in Jordan.