This eight-month-old girl is Evelin. She lives with her mother, father, and sister in rural Guatemala where their family shares an adobe mud house with no bathroom, stove, or access to clean drinking water.
Our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq (WK), diagnosed Evelin with acute malnutrition during a routine house call in her town. “Evelin’s mother had no idea that Evelin was malnourished until we arrived,” WK says. “She is far below both her height for age and her weight for age and is often sick with a cough and/or diarrhea.”
Evelin is in need of treatment, but her family cannot afford the cost of nutritional intervention. Her father works as a farmer while her mother weaves textiles to sell at a local market. Evelin is not receiving the proper nutrition that she needs to grow strong.
“Without intervention, her weight will continue to fall and she will continue to not grow,” WK tells us. “Her immune system will weaken and she will be at risk of acute illnesses, such as pneumonia. In the long run she will be at higher risk of suffering from the long term effects of malnutrition including acquiring a chronic disease, lower IQ and academic performance, and decreased earning potential.”
For $535, Evelin will receive intensive micronutrient and food supplementation as well as medication to stop the gastrointestinal infection causing her diarrhea. With these interventions, she will start to gain weight and height and strengthen her immune system to fend off future illness. Her mother will also receive nutritional education.
“I am so thankful that you want to help my little one,” Evelin’s mother says. “We struggle financially and so this will be a great help.”
