We identify and treat children at risk of acute and severe malnutrition.

It is widely recognized that adequate nutrition during the first 1000 days of life is of critical importance for healthy brain development. Accordingly, the focus of our program is on preventing severe malnutrition in children between 6 months and three years of age within the area where we work.

Our nutrition team is recruited from local communities and all of its members speak the indigenous language. They work continuously in collaboration with government health workers to identify already malnourished and at-risk babies and children from the poorest areas.

These children are then treated with ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RTUF) and their weight and growth regularly monitored until they are out of danger. Additionally, our team treats pregnant and lactating mothers who are so malnourished themselves that they are unable to adequately nourish babies in utero or produce enough milk for them after they are born.

We treat around 5,000 children a year, and 90% of them thrive. 

Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of malnutrition in the world. According to the World Food Program up to 80% of Guatemalan children living in purely indigenous areas suffer from malnutrition.

The department of San Marcos where our operations are based is one of the most stricken, with estimates of severely malnourished children in the three municipalities where we work ranging from 50% - 70%.

Our nutrition program is made possible by generous ongoing donations from EDESIA, a non-profit company based in the United States that manufactures ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RTUF) for use by organizations working to combat malnutrition. Their products are used in refugee camps, and in many countries in different parts of the world where malnutrition is rampant.

Every year EDESIA donates to us thousands of boxes of individual sachets of their products, including PlumpyNut, PlumpySup, NutriButter, EnovMum. We distribute them through our own program and also share them with other organizations working in San Marcos and in other departments of Guatemala where there is a high rate of malnutrition.