Chdech Sophat is a three-year old girl from Damrei Phong, an isolated village in Chhlong Operational District in Cambodia. Sophat’s mother, a widow, weaned Sophat after only three months and fed her neither protein nor vegetables in her first two years; only plain rice. The lack of proper nutrition resulted in Sophat developing Marasmus (wasting) and Kwashiorkor, both serious forms of protein-energy malnutrition.

The prevalence of malnutrition in Cambodia is due largely to a lack of knowledge on the part of caretakers - rather than a lack of access to nutritional foods. It is widespread in rural areas and is a contributing factor to the very high rate of infant and under-five mortality in the country.

In January 2003, PFD began implementing the Hearth model of nutrition in Sophat’s village. As a community-based approach to reducing malnutrition, the Hearth model uses networks of village health volunteers to identify and promote existing successful childcare, child feeding and health seeking behavior practices. The Hearth model relies on cycles of monitoring and weighing of village children which alternate with sessions of intensive peer-oriented health education including demonstrations of how to incorporate low-cost nutrient-rich foods into the diet.

When village health volunteers first started monitoring Sophat, she was diagnosed as malnourished with a respiratory infection and diarrhea. Her body, face, and hands were dirty. Despite her daughter’s ill-health, Sophat’s mother was unwilling to participate at first. The process was new to her, she felt fearful, and she didn’t understand the benefits.

The village health volunteer made special visits to Sophat’s mother and taught the mother about her child’s nutritional needs using flipcharts, posters and by highlighting the positive impact proper nutrition had had on other children. By September, Sophat’s mother had been won over. She now provides high protein and high vitamin foods to Sophat whose physical condition has improved.

In fact, Sophat has been steadily gaining weight and is active, smiling and playing now. Her face has color. Her mother says that now she washes Sophat with soap 2 or 3 times a day and the scabies is gone from her legs and head. The village health volunteer and Sophat’s mother have both told PFD staff that Sophat’s life was saved because of this intervention.