Sherlin is a fourteen-month-old baby girl from Guatemala. She is the first child in her family, and her parents are incredibly excited to have her in their life. They live in a one-room adobe house with a tin roof in a rural village in the mountains. Her father works as a day laborer, earning only a couple of dollars per day when he is able to find work. This means that they have not been able to afford the treatment that the local government-run health outpost has recommended, leaving them frustrated and unable to help their daughter reach her full potential.
Sherlin has been struggling to grow almost her whole life. This is due to being undernourished because her parents cannot afford to give her the protein, calories, and vitamins her body needs to grow and develop. She is now acutely malnourished, leaving her immune system without the strength to fight off common illnesses like gastrointestinal infections, cough, and fever. If she does not get treatment, she could face long-term consequences such as a low IQ, behavioral issues, and increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Growth monitoring, micronutrients and food supplementation will help Sherlin recover from malnutrition. All of this treatment and medication costs $512. She will gain weight and grow taller to catch up with other children her age. Her immune system will grow stronger with the increased caloric intake. This will further increase her appetite and help her use the extra calories to develop mentally instead of those calories being used to get over frequent illness.
Sherlin’s parents will receive the support they need to feel empowered to give her the diet she needs to grow and develop healthily, even with their limited resources. Intervention now will prevent the future devastating effects of malnutrition, and give Sherlin the chance to live a healthy and productive life.
“I hope that my daughter grows and becomes an intelligent girl and in the future can become a doctor,” Sherlin’s mother shared.