Nurse me: let's defeat child malnutrition in Benin

Dear Friends,

At the end of April and the beginning of May, Aleimar’s Executive Director, the Head of the Projects Office, and a group of 10 volunteers traveled to Benin to monitor our ongoing projects and take part in volunteer activities alongside our local partners. These field missions are essential to assess the impact of our work, strengthen collaboration with local communities, and plan future interventions based on the needs identified on the ground.

During the mission, the group visited L'Abbraccio Pediatric Hospital in Sokpontà, the only specialized neonatal and pediatric hospital serving the entire surrounding area. The hospital is a vital healthcare center for thousands of children and families, providing specialized services through its outpatient clinic, neonatal intensive care unit for the most critical cases, radiology department, and long-term care ward.

Accompanied by the Hospital Director, we had the opportunity to visit each department and learn more about the hospital's daily work. Despite the remarkable commitment of the medical staff, the demand for pediatric care remains extremely high, particularly for children affected by malnutrition and other serious illnesses. To address these challenges, the hospital complements its clinical services with prevention and awareness activities carried out in the communities and schools throughout the Les Collines District, promoting early diagnosis and healthier practices among families.

An important moment of the visit was our meeting with the hospital's nutritionist, who has played a key role in Aleimar's community nutrition program over the past three years. Together with the local team, she has regularly supported the nursery school in Kpossegan, located about 40 minutes from the hospital, where periodic nutritional screenings have made it possible to identify children affected by malnutrition, monitor their progress, and promptly refer the most severe cases to L'Abbraccio Hospital for specialized treatment.

Equally important have been the community cooking sessions, which have provided mothers and caregivers with practical knowledge on hygiene, nutrition, and balanced diets using locally available foods. These educational activities have helped families adopt healthier feeding practices and have become a fundamental component of our strategy to prevent child malnutrition before it becomes a life-threatening condition.

Your support makes all of this possible. By strengthening both hospital care and community-based prevention, you are helping ensure that more children receive timely treatment, more families gain the knowledge to keep their children healthy, and more young lives are given the opportunity to grow and thrive.

Thank you for standing with us and with the children of Benin!