Helping Baby Ouobra Get His Smile Back
When little Ouobra lost his smile, that’s when his mother knew something was seriously wrong. For weeks the two-year-old baby had been losing weight and was gradually losing the strength to stomach any food at all. He was eating less every day and was slowly growing quieter and quieter.
Sadly Ouobra’s story is not unique, thousands of families across Burkina Faso are feeling the force of a major food crisis that is sweeping across West Africa. Luckily for Ouobra, his mother found out about Action Against Hunger’s feeding centre in Diapaga, Burkina Faso, and as soon as they walked through the door the team admitted baby Ouobra for emergency treatment. He was suffering from severe acute malnutrition and had developed bronchitis, so would need to stay in the clinic for round the clock treatment and care.
Ouobra had reached the feeding centre just in time. A drip was attached to the little boy’s face and he was slowly fed special therapeutic and nutritious foods. The Action Against Hunger nutrition team monitored him closely and supported his mother, who stayed by his bedside throughout. Over the next few days he slowly improved and today he is well on the road to recovery.
Ouobra is one of our success stories, but there are hundreds more children who are still suffering from hunger. As soon as he is well enough to be taken off the drip, his mother will be provided with packets of special ready-to-use therapeutic foods so that she can continue his treatment at home and look after the rest of the family as well. Ouobra will continue to be monitored closely by Action Against Hunger, with regular check-up visits to the centre.
This year the UK government is match-funding Action Against Hunger’s Love Food Give Food appeal to help thousands of children across Burkina Faso, Niger and Liberia. Give now and every pound you give will be doubled – helping us to reach twice as many children, just like Ouobra.
Your gift will help us to save the lives of malnourished children and help communities feed themselves to protect against hunger in the future. With your help we are aiming to reach 100,000 children. Every single pound donated will help save lives.
Help us get child hunger off the table – give now and every pound you give will be doubled by the UK Government.