In Zamaï displacement camp, Rakia Ali’s baby is reborn

In the town of Moloko malnourished children are seeing their strength return. With financial support from the Government of Germany/BMZ through KfW and from Global Affairs Canada, the UN children’s agency UNICEF has rolled out an integrated programme to combat child malnutrition. Through awareness-raising campaigns, vaccination, community screening and the distribution of nutritional kits, thousands of children under the age of five are receiving care, restoring hope to families and paving the way to a new life.
 
Cameroon’s Far North, the heat arrives even before morning. The dusty soil swirls with every gust of wind. Dust hangs in the air and clings to clothing. Between rows of makeshift huts, barefoot children play. On many of them are etched the visible signs of malnutrition: thin arms, hair discoloured by deficiencies, tired eyes.
 
Sitting outside her modest mud hut, Rakia Ali is tightly holding her daughter. The 33 year-old displaced mother’s story is a tragic one. She was abducted by militants from the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram. For more than two months, she lived in fear and with little food. She ate rarely, sometimes not at all. Her baby, still being breastfed, endured the same. Weak and emaciated, the child began to fall seriously ill.
 
Rakia decided to flee to safety. Some time after their arrival, her first child, already weakened by severe malnutrition, was treated with Plumpy’Nut, a ready-to-use therapeutic food widely used in the treatment of acute malnutrition. Despite the care provided, the child died at the age of two.
 
Her second child, 14 month-old Habiba, soon began to show signs of malnutrition too: rapid weight loss and fatigue. Habiba was examined in Zamaï by a community team supported by UNICEF during a nutritional screening session. The diagnosis was clear, acute malnutrition.
 
Rakia was immediately referred to the treatment programme. She received nutritional supplies and learned how to prepare enriched porridge, a mixture of local cereals, groundnuts and fortified ingredients. Each week, she returned for medical follow-up, weighing and dietary counselling.
 
Slowly but surely, Habiba gained weight. Her expression changed. She began to play again. After five months of treatment, Habiba was given the all-clear. This progress was made possible thanks to support from the Government of Germany/BMZ through KfW and Global Affairs Canada, which helps ensure access to life‑saving nutrition services in the community.
 
“Before, I had to borrow money to treat my child in health centres. Thanks to UNICEF and its partners, she is now cured. There used to be a lot of cases of malnutrition; now they have greatly decreased in the community,” Rakia confides.
 
In the Far North region, these results echo a broader transformation. More than 25,000 young children have received essential micronutrients, while community health workers have screened hundreds of thousands of children for malnutrition, enabling the treatment of over 6,800 cases of severe waste. In districts like Mokolo, Mora and Kousseri, these efforts are slowly turning the tide, offering families renewed hope in a region long affected by hardship.
 
In the dusty yard, Rakia’s little girl now runs around with the other children. Her mother watches her with relief. “I give her enriched porridge three times a day: with groundnuts, soya, baobab and tamarind,” she explains.
 
Like Rakia, many displaced women have experienced exile, hunger and loss. In this region marked by instability and food insecurity, malnutrition remains a daily threat. But thanks to community screening, nutritional treatment and the promotion of appropriate feeding practices, the trend is gradually beginning to reverse.