First Place

"Acute Malnutrition Crisis: Afghanistan"

Gul Ahmad, an infant boy suffering from acute malnutrition, is covered by his mother's scarf while being treated in the therapeutic feeding centre ward at the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) administered Boost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, the capial of Helamnd Province in southern Afghanistan. Malnutrition, according to MSF staff, is a chronic problem in Afghanistan. In most cases it is not malnutrition that sees children admitted to hospital but an illness that has been brought on by the child's inability to fight off infection because its body is so degraded of vital nutrients. In infants in Afghanistan, malnutrition is often the result of mothers feeding their baby's formula or even tea instead of breast milk. The reason for this is generally a lack of access to information and education for new mothers.