Tags: Health, Nutrition
What we learned from checking 7,000 children for malnutrition
A year of screening in Daykundi showed us that finding children early is the most important part of treatment.
Between June 2023 and May 2024, our community health workers in Daykundi checked 7,350 children under five for malnutrition. We have now finished reviewing the results with the provincial health team.
Three lessons
Finding children early saves lives. Most of the 486 children who needed treatment were found before they became seriously ill, so they could be treated at home with ready-to-use food.
Mothers are the best early warning. After short sessions on the warning signs, mothers began bringing children to health workers on their own.
Follow-up matters. Children who were checked every two weeks were far more likely to recover fully than those who missed visits.
We are now using the same approach in our mobile clinic villages in Badakhshan.
Sample data
