Guatemala's hidden crisis: Half of young children face stunted growth

High in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, where the cold wind caresses the crops, sheep graze among giant stones that sometimes hinder sowing and limit harvests. There, in landscapes that seem taken from another corner of the world, invisible communities live behind the natural beauty, like *Cumbre La Botija*.

Behind this postcard hides a silent reality: water scarcity, limited health services, precarious access to education, and little food availability. Tourism stops at the viewpoints, but beyond where cameras and visitors do not reach, communities continue to face the mountain, and help arrives late.

In rural and vulnerable contexts like this, the World Food Programme (WFP), in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS), has implemented nutrition brigades that bring essential support to the most remote communities, allowing early diagnoses of malnutrition cases, offering prenatal checks, delivering and monitoring prevention and attention supplements, and providing nutritional counseling. In many cases, they represent the difference between life and death.

**Between pregnancies, breastfeeding, and postpartum**

A 24-year-old young mother from the La Botija community represents daily resilience. ***"I am part of the savings and credit group 'La Esperancita'. We meet at Doña Bernabé's house and there we prepare food to sell. Sometimes we make up to a hundred tamales, it takes us about three hours. They sell for three quetzals each. My son is always with me, I never separate from him."*** She cooks, cultivates her garden, and since her first pregnancy, she has had her control with the nutrition brigade that reaches the community where she lives. She has received accompaniment during breastfeeding, postpartum, and now, pregnant again, she continues to strengthen her care practices in an environment where collective effort remains essential to sustain life.

**A Bittersweet Emotion: "I've never separated from him"**

Today, five months pregnant, she continues with her chores while carrying her one-year-and-eight-month-old son on her back, wrapped in a traditional blanket. She carries him close, as she has done since he was born, while another baby grows in her womb. ***"I am happy, but sad. I've never separated from my son, and now it will be three days away from him,"*** she confesses, thinking about the time she will spend away from home for the birth of her new baby. Her first child was born by cesarean, and due to the short interval between pregnancies, doctors have indicated repeating the procedure.

Access to the hospital from her community is a real challenge: the journey requires four-wheel-drive vehicles, and any delay could put her life and the baby she is carrying at risk. She and her husband must raise money to pay for transportation, provided they can find out the exact date of the birth in advance. In her community, there are traditional midwives -known as comadronas- who could attend the birth, but they lack the resources to assist cesareans.

**An early diagnosis that made the difference**

When her son was just 1 year and 3 months old, a nutrition brigade diagnosed him at risk of acute malnutrition. That timely diagnosis marked a before and after. In Guatemala, thousands of children under two face conditions that threaten their development. Although he is not part of the infant mortality statistics, he lives in an environment where life is sustained with the bare minimum. It was not neglect, but a consequence of the conditions in which his family lives. It was confirmed that he has moderate growth delay, a condition that affects 46.5% of children and girls in the country, mainly as a result of poverty.

High in the Cuchumatanes, there are local foods that could become a source of nutrition for many families. However, what is lacking is support and training to identify which ones can be used and how to prepare them. The lack of water and information limits what the land does produce from becoming food for those who need it most.

The conditions in these communities -little food, water collected in buckets and boiled as the only safe source, limited hygiene, extreme cold, and altitude- represent a permanent challenge to health. Nutrition brigades visit rural communities once a month. During these visits, staff not only checks nutritional status but also engages in conversations. It's not just about giving lectures, but sharing practical ways to improve nutrition using what's already grown locally. Slowly, local knowledge is built, recognizing that the land provides what's needed if one knows how to use it. ***'They said to add a little dough between the beans and that would help',*** a young mother recalls; her baby accepted the food and gained weight. She also received vitamins, nutritional advice, and guidance. This mother has learned patiently, despite never having access to formal education. Her story reflects not ignorance, but a lack of opportunities passed down through generations. **The risk of malnutrition persists in marginalized areas** This mother's story, facing the risk of her son (and the one she's carrying) having the same diagnosis, not due to lack of knowledge but due to living conditions, is also the story of over 1.8 million women living in rural contexts in Guatemala, according to ICEFI, 2018. She is part of the 'La Esperancita' Women's Empowerment Savings and Credit Group in La Botija, Chiantla, Huehuetenango. The group is one of those attended by the Q'anil Project, funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, aiming to strengthen integrated resilience, improve livelihoods in rural communities, and improve nutritional conditions of women in these municipalities of Huehuetenango.