Written by Paul Bettings.
Malaria is present in many parts of the world including the Shinyanga Region in Tanzania, home to Mageni and her four children. When Mageni’s daughter Dottoh, remained persistently ill she assumed it was malaria sticking around for longer than usual. It was a reasonable enough assumption given that early in her life Dottoh had suffered several bouts of malaria.
But Dottoh failed to recover so Mageni took her to a World Vision-supported health center about 5 km away. It was only then that she discovered Dottoh was in fact suffering from severe malnutrition, not malaria.
Dottoh was believed to have malaria, but in fact was malnourished. She was brought back to good health within several months. Photo: Paul Bettings
With treatment from the clinic and through participation in a nutrition rehabilitation and prevention program called positive deviance and hearth facilitated by ENRICH, Dottoh was brought back to proper weight and good health within several months.