Guatemala SANA Update!
Since June, MANA has been in partnership with SANA, a project developed by Guatemalan Vice President Dr. Rafael Espada to improve the quality of life for millions of rural children, providing ready-to-use therapeutic food in the areas SANA reaches.
As Guatemala receives shipments of MANA, the SANA team is able to distribute the RUTF to the district of Chiquimula, one of the country’s poorest areas with the highest percentage of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). An estimated 15,000 children in the area are in need of evaluation, and 5,000 are believed to suffer from SAM.
Chronic malnutrition is a major problem throughout the entire country, but there is a large concentration of children in the Chiquimula district that need immediate RUTF intervention. SANA works with physicians and a local mothers’ group to identify at-risk children in the area, not only supplying them with RUTF but also providing the communities with long-term nutrition solutions.
The first group SANA has worked with since June addresses 100 families and includes 91 children receiving RUTF treatment. Starting in September, 300 more children will also begin treatment. In addition to the RUTF treatments, chicken coops will be built for the communities and stocked with 10 chicks per child in the treatment groups. After the children complete their six-week treatment of MANA and mothers are educated to raise the chickens, the coops will serve as a steady source of much-needed protein. With each family comprised of an average of seven members, these advances will affect the lives of 2,975 Guatemalan people.
Recent donations to MANA will enable us to send RUTF to SANA for over 200 children in the Chiquimula district. By September, nearly 400 children will have received life-saving MANA!
If you would like help MANA contribute to SANA’s efforts in Guatemala, go here.