Despite many gains during the past ten years following the Salvadoran Peace Accords, 26% of children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition in rural El Salvador. USAID funds a number of projects to improve nutrition in rural areas of El Salvador that target children under two-years-old and pregnant mothers. Several studies have shown the positive effects of good nutrition on a child’s intellectual ability to learn.

Sonia Lopez took her daughter Zulma to the nutrition monitoring sessions and monthly weighing sessions in her village in rural El Salvador. At first this was difficult because she had to care for her two handicapped sons. With support from the community, she was able to attend the sessions with Zulma. By participating in USAID’s Integrated Nutrition Care Program, Sonia received nutritional counseling to understand how to best feed her children and ensure her daughter’s diet contributed to a healthy weight.

Zulma, once underweight and malnourished, has reached the desired weight for her age and maintained this weight gain over nine months of participation. USAID is functioning in 45% of the high risk municipalities in El Salvador. To date, a total of 7,291 children and 1,117 pregnant women participate in the program.