By Eman Al-Astal

“Mila plays now like the other kids. She’s so much more energetic,” Mila’s mother comments on the improvement in her daughter after her treatment at a MECA supported malnutrition clinic in Gaza.

Mila was born during the first months of the Israeli genocide on Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. At one year old she was brought, for the first time, to one of the malnutrition clinics that MECA supports in Gaza. 

Shayma, Mila’s mom, shared: “I have three children, Mila’s my third. And when she was born during the ‘war’ she was way too thin and I freaked out. I thought I was going to lose her. Then almost a year later after she hadn’t gotten better even with my breastfeeding. I had to do something. Once I learnt of the clinic I rushed her in. And the clinic saved her life.”

Mila was screened and diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). She then began weekly follow-ups at the clinic to manage the condition and to receive nutritional supplements. The clinic also provided awareness sessions for families on managing malnutrition and other related health conditions that Mila’s mother attended. And finally, the clinic provided the family with food parcels including special fortified foods for Mila when available. Our partners stay in close contact and follow-up with the child and their family until they recover. After four months of regular treatment and follow up, Mila improved. 

Treating such critical conditions amid an ongoing genocide is not easy. Israel controls what comes in and out of Gaza and deliberately blocked or limited the supplements and food that are needed to treat malnutrition. All the key supplies are only intermittently available in Gaza and the clinic staff had to improvise with what was available.

A few months later, severe manufactured famine struck Gaza again and Shayma, Mila’s mother, found herself taking her tiny toddler back to the malnutrition clinic. This time Mila was diagnosed with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) which meant she needed ongoing care and treatment once again to become stronger and to try to prevent permanent damage. 

Severe and moderate acute malnutrition, if untreated or even if not treated in time, are fatal and debilitating for children. In many cases the damage is irreversible and could lead to weakened immune system, diarrhea and sepsis, growth failure, delayed brain development, organ damage, and finally death. 

Luckily, and thanks to all of the efforts of the malnutrition clinic and Mila’s family, Mila survived. She graduated from the program at the malnutrition clinic for the second time earlier this month and is doing great. Mila is more lively and energetic and her immune system has improved. 

According to the malnutrition project coordinator, malnutrition cases in the MECA-supported clinics have decreased after Israel began letting some food and aid in. But there are still thousands of malnourished children in Gaza with more cases diagnosed every day after months of deprivation. The Israeli-manufactured famine is not over yet, the supplies of food are not enough, and the genocide is still ongoing.  

The malnutrition program is among the most important to support during these hard times in Gaza and has saved the lives of many children like Mila. This is the story of one little girl in Gaza, one out of one million Palestinian children in Gaza. MECA and our partners will do everything we can to help save the next Mila too.