Therapeutic food for Tshisalu Lukadi’s child

"I led my life peacefully in Kamako, my family and I," begins Tshisalu Lukadi. "But with the atrocities of the Kamuina Nsapu militia, my family and I were forced to take refuge in Angola where life was not easy." 

She was not alone -- Tshisalu Lukadi was not only caring for her own children -- but for seven orphans as well. When she, her children and her charges were deported from their refuge in Angola, she found herself at Kamonia Health Zone in Kamako, a border town in one of the nine zones of the Kasaï Provincial Health Division declared on nutritional alert. 

"One of my children fell into severe acute malnutrition with medical complications," says Tshisalu Lukadi. "In October 2022, we saw World Vision. We were encouraged to take the child to the hospital and they recommended that the child receive a rich porridge to save their life." 

"It was not easy -- we lacked the money for treatment," continues Tshisalu Lukadi. "Like a miracle, World Vision came to help us to provide food for this child you see. A child who could not stand up!" 
 

A poor and undiversified diet, rising food prices and shortages, land disputes, lack of road infrastructure and ferries, water unsuitable for consumption and lack of safe and hygienic latrines have contributed to severe malnutrition among the Democratic Republic of Congo's displaced families, where 2.8 million children are acutely malnourished.  

Eight percent of children aged 6 to 59 months are wasting, which means that their weight and muscle mass are disproportionate to their height as a result of severe malnutrition. Their immune systems, unable to cope with hunger, leave them vulnerable to development delays, disease and death. 

 
"I had to save my children -- especially the one who was suffering from malnutrition."  

With support from donors and the Humanitarian Coalition, World Vision has contributed to mitigating the effects of severe malnutrition among the Democratic Republic of Congo's most vulnerable children.