Oumar turned one year old in August. This is a big deal: in Nigeria, where Oumar and his mother live, half a million children’s lives are threatened by famine.
He was a healthy baby. He’d never had malaria but in the last three months Oumar started getting sick when his mother began transitioning him from breastfeeding and introducing other food.
Oumar and his mother had to travel to the Aguie hospital in Niger, which is the closest to their home. Weighing only 11 pounds, Oumar was quickly diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. When Oumar arrived at the hospital, he was vomiting and had diarrhea. After quick interventions over just two days at the Save the Children-funded stabilization center at the hospital, Oumar was no longer vomiting.
Save the Children works in six districts in Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries. In 2014, Save’s work gave 238,157 children vital nourishment.