Having a sickly infant and not knowing what the problem is, is the most daunting thing a parent can go through. Not having the ability to afford healthcare is an even bigger problem, according to Sophie (not her real name).
The mother of a one-year-old is one of the beneficiaries of the food support by the U.S. government.
“My daughter was very sickly and had diarrhoea, so I took her to the clinic for a consultation. I had no idea that the problem was malnutrition,” recalled Sophie.
Her child, one year and three months old, weighed 7.3kg during the consultation in May 2024.
“The treatment is going very well, and her weight has increased to above 9kg by August,” she added. Stuntedness describes children who are too short for their age, while wasting means they are too thin for their height – both conditions are caused by malnutrition.
The U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has partnered with the Ministry of Health and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) to provide 14 metric tonnes of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to children under five years.
“When we started with RUTF, my daughter didn’t take it well. I mixed it with porridge, and she became receptive to it, and now enjoys eating it. Thank you for helping Namibia with this life-saving product,” said Sophie, who receives her prescription for RUTF every two weeks from the village pharmacy.
RUTF is a specialised nutritional product distributed through health facilities that helps children with severe malnutrition to recover. Enrolment lasts for three months for severe cases, and once the patient reaches a designated milestone, they can either be discharged or progress to the RUSF, which is intended for moderate malnutrition cases.
The //Kharas regional health directorate confirmed that malnutrition in children under five years is primarily manifested through diarrhoea, which is how these children are diagnosed and subsequently enrolled in the programme.
A complicating factor is that //Kharas residents frequently migrate due to a lack of employment opportunities; they tend to go where they can find a source of income, and take their children along as well. This mobility complicates the management and maintenance of patient records. Another significant challenge is the complete absence of RUSF in Namibia, which may lead to relapses among those who have been discharged.
“We are grateful for this initiative by the U.S. government. We have been eagerly awaiting the delivery of RUTF to our clinics, as we have witnessed many children suffering from malnutrition. It has been years since we last received any supplies,” says clinic nurse Petrus.
The effects of the worst drought in Southern Africa are particularly evident in Namibia. According to the April/September 2024 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, an estimated 1.4 million Namibians, nearly half of the country’s population, are experiencing acute food insecurity — a figure that has doubled over the past 12 months.
The crisis spans all 14 regions, with cereal production plummeting by 53%, and dam water levels dropping by 70%, compared to last year. //Kharas region is predominantly semi-arid and dry, but this year, the drought was so bad that it resulted in a substantial drop in production as well as the income from farm labour, which so many people depend on.
Lack of food and income has eroded household food security, leading over time to severe health consequences, including malnutrition in both adults and children.