Anne Mbusu is the administrator of the Masi Maminba territory, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Bandundu province. In 2010, she became aware that there was a growing malnutrition problem in Masi Manimba. A survey by the Pool d'Urgence Nutritionel du Congo found very high rates of malnutrition, triggering a response which was lead by the NGO Action Against Hunger, supported by UK aid.

Action Against Hunger sent a team of doctors and nutritionists to Masi Manimba for three months. They identified and treated as many malnourished children as possible.

Following the initial three month response Action Against Hunger stayed on in the town for another few months, training to community leaders like Anne, teaching them how to identify the early signs of malnutrition as well as how to better use locally available produce in order to eat more healthily. Anne Mbusu explains what a difference this has made to her town:

"As a mother, it made me stop and think. Now I can breathe a sigh of relief, there is a real change. Now when you go to the hospital there are only a small number of malnourished children there, whereas before you used to find a lot.

"Action Against Hunger trained us how to look after ourselves better. Thanks to the training, we consider ourselves actors now. The training helps us when we talk to a new community. We have the responsibility to raise people's awareness about the necessity to feed children well first of all, with the food we can produce ourselves.

"I think families used to be reluctant to bring a malnourished child to a health centre because they thought it would bring shame on them. Also malnutrition is a disease that can evolve little by little and cause death without much notice. I think that now, the parents, the families understand that every malnourished child has to be taken to the health centre."

Background

Acute malnutrition is a major public health problem across the Democratic Republic of Congo. UK aid has supported the government of DRC and aid agencies including Action Against Hunger to provide emergency nutrition response programmes across DRC in 2010 and 2011.

In some areas, the communities have taken the ideas that Action Against Hunger brought to them, and organised themselves to tackle malnutrition from the ground up - by forming their own co-operative farms and self-support groups.