Three-year-old Rasheda from the Bagerhat district’s Mongla upazila had long remained lean and weak. She seemed underfed but her family confirmed that despite their best efforts to feed her well, her physique was not developing as it should. Rasheda often suffers from fever, her body shakes, and she experiences frequent illness. Her parents were unsure of what was wrong with Rasheda. Therefore, Rasheda’s mother took her to the Upazila Health Complex (UHC) in Mongla upazila, where the doctor informed them that Rasheda was suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
Rasheda was admitted to the hospital’s newly established SAM unit- a four-bedded, separate corner equipped with necessary treatment facilities for children affected with severe malnutrition. Rasheda and her mother found a cheerful and encouraging atmosphere in the SAM unit, featuring plenty of colour, a children’s play zone and posters displaying the correct height and weight for children, the symptoms and cures of malnutrition and the appropriate food required for children at various ages.
With the doctor’s advice, Rasheda received a proper diet and medicines and recovered well. Rasheda’s mother learned how to prepare nutritious meals at home and feed her little daughter to improve her malnourished condition. She says, ‘Admission to the SAM unit saved my daughter’s life. Also, I understood I must develop nutritious eating habits and ensure proper care for my child as she grows.’
A SAM unit is a designated area with beds within the pediatric ward of the UHC, established by the government of Bangladesh, for children suffering from severe malnutrition. Unfortunately, not many UHCs possess functional treatment facilities that offer therapeutic diets, medicines, and close medical supervision for SAM children, and the Mongla UHC was one of these. However, HEED Bangladesh, a PPEPP-EU partner in the south, assisted in enhancing the functionality of the SAM unit at Mongla UHC in collaboration with the government and UNICEF’s Khulna office.
Contemplating the challenges of providing specialised care to SAM children, the PPEPP-EU project, through its implementing partners, advocates with upazila-level health, family planning, and related local government officials and stakeholders to facilitate the operationalisation of SAM units. Moreover, project staff conduct exposure visits to nearby UHCs’ SAM units to learn about the specialised treatment arrangements and the improved nutritional assistance (therapeutic food such as F-100 and F-75) required for children affected by SAM.
Through learning, advocacy, and resource mobilisation efforts, many PPEPP-EU partners have bolstered existing facilities and developed functional SAM corners in the UHCs across 12 districts within the project’s operational areas. Each day, parents visit the SAM units with their malnourished children and return home with healthier children after receiving vital treatment and nutritional guidance. These units are transforming the lives of many children like Rasheda, and 1,455 children from PPEPP-EU members have received treatment through admission to the SAM unit thus far. Consequently, the battle against malnutrition has become more organised through the coordinated efforts of the PPEPP-EU project, government agencies and stakeholders.