12-06-2026 | di COOPI

DRC. When care reaches the home

When community health workers reached the home of Salambote Kioma in the Tambutseke health area, the situation was critical. A mother of two young children, she had been abandoned by her husband and was living in conditions of extreme vulnerability. Malnutrition had affected both her children and Salambote herself, who had become too weak to work in the fields and even to walk.

I found myself in a very difficult situation. I could no longer provide for my children’s needs, nor for my own. During that period, malnutrition entered our family, affecting both my children and myself. 

she recalls.

Salambote’s story is one of many illustrating the consequences of the nutrition crisis affecting Kwango Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To help address this emergency, COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale ETS, with the support of UNICEF, is implementing the project “Emergency Response to the Nutrition Crisis Among Children Under Five in the Health Zones of Feshi, Panzi, Kenge and Popokabaka, to Improve Access to Basic Health and Nutrition Services in Kwango Province”.

After her husband abandoned the family, Salambote was left alone to support her household. As the months passed, the lack of resources progressively worsened both her children’s health and her own. When she fell ill and lost the ability to walk, the agricultural activities on which the family’s survival depended also came to a halt.

It was at this point that the community network supported by the project played a decisive role. A "relais communautaire" (community health worker) identified the case and accompanied the two children to the Tambutseke Health Centre for a nutritional assessment.

When the community health worker came to our home, he told me that a COOPI and UNICEF team would provide free treatment for my children. I was unable to walk, so my sister accompanied them to the health centre. That was the beginning of our recovery journey 

Salambote recalls.

The diagnosis was immediate: both children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Health staff therefore initiated treatment in accordance with national protocols, providing ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and ensuring regular monitoring of their health status.

At admission, both children were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. Thanks to therapeutic food, medical treatment and close monitoring, we saw their nutritional status gradually improve until they were discharged from the programme.

explains Guylain Kilekitsona, COOPI nurse and Head of the Tambutseke Health Centre.

The recovery process, however, was not straightforward. The family’s socioeconomic conditions made it difficult to ensure an adequate diet outside the therapeutic treatment programme. For this reason, COOPI health workers and nutritionists decided to support the family through regular home visits, monitoring the children’s clinical progress and providing continuous assistance.

The home-based monitoring strategy proved essential. Regular visits made it possible to closely follow the treatment, identify the family’s day-to-day challenges and adapt support to their needs. This community-based approach ensured continuity of care even when the mother’s condition made it difficult for her to reach the health centre.

Week after week, the children showed signs of improvement until they fully recovered their nutritional status and were discharged from the programme.

The mother’s health also gradually improved. Today, Salambote has regained the ability to walk and now personally accompanies her children to the health centre for check-ups and follow-up visits.

Seeing Salambote walk again and personally accompany her children to the health centre is one of the most significant outcomes of this journey. Behind the children’s nutritional recovery lies a family’s renewed confidence and ability to look towards the future.

say Bernard Sakakusu and Richard Nkyaka, COOPI nutritionists.

Salambote’s story demonstrates the importance of reaching the most vulnerable people before malnutrition and poverty lead to irreversible consequences. It also highlights the value of an integrated approach that combines healthcare, nutrition services and community engagement, accompanying families throughout the entire continuum of care.

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Present in the country since 1977, COOPI has been committed for decades to strengthening the population’s nutritional security. In 2025, the organisation implemented six projects, reaching 248,783 beneficiaries.