Vivir Health Foundation / Ecuador

Mother Blanket

In remote villages of the Ecuadorian Andes, there's a misconception when it comes to addressing Chronic Child Malnutrition. Mothers tend to believe that their kids are healthy if they are chubby, when the correct parameter that determines if a child is malnourished, it's the height and not the weight. Plus, cultural and language barriers makes it more difficult to give them the information and help they need. 

Vivir Health Foundation, an organization that promotes a healthy lifestyle and health equality among communities nationwide, developed an in-language pediatric diagnosis tool by putting the length-for-age chart of the World Health Organization in the "Sikinche", a blanket that Andean mothers use daily to carry their children. This way mothers can go to their nearest medical facility if they see their kids are falling behind.