After Myanmar’s devastating earthquake in 2025, Khine Zar’s* family faced displacement, injury, and severe food insecurity. Her toddler, Mee Mee*, developed Severe Acute Malnutrition, but with Save the Children’s therapeutic feeding and community nutrition support, she recovered. The story highlights Myanmar’s growing child nutrition crisis and the lifesaving impact of timely intervention.
For 37-year-old Khine Zar*, the world changed in a matter of seconds. She was in the kitchen of her newly built home in Mandalay, preparing food for her youngest daughter, Mee Mee*, when the ground began to violently shake due to the disastrous earthquake.
"I quickly ran outside but could not escape," she recalls. "The walls of a neighbour’s house collapsed on me."
The structural collapse destroyed the family's newly built home and left Khine Zar* with life-threatening injuries, including bilateral fractured legs. Following emergency surgery and a prolonged hospitalisation, she was left permanently unable to return to her livelihood as a masonry worker. Her husband, also a construction mason, became the sole earner for the seven-member household, which includes Khine Zar’s* mother and four children, relying entirely on irregular odd jobs in a highly volatile labour market.
While Khine Zar* remained hospitalised, her family was displaced in an open field, facing immediate food insecurity and inadequate shelter. Separated from her mother and unable to breastfeed due to the severe injuries, nineteen-month-old Mee Mee* began to grow thin. Though her grandmother did everything she could, feeding the infant soft rice, eggs, and even informal wet-nursing from a lactating neighbour, Mee Mee’s* health steadily deteriorated. When Save the Children’s nutrition team visited the family, Mee Mee* was diagnosed with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) after her Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) was measured.
In 2026, an estimated 2.7 million people across Myanmar require urgent nutrition assistance. More than 800,000 children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition, including over 72,000 children experiencing SAM who face imminent death without therapeutic intervention. A further 288,000 children suffer from Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM).
A volunteer measures Mee Mee's* mid-upper arm circumference with a MUAC band. Save the Children Myanmar
Upon her discharge from the hospital, Khine Zar* faced severe emotional and physiological barriers to care.
"My child did not recognise me at first," she states. "She even refused to come to me.”
In addition to psychological detachment, Khine Zar* experienced secondary lactation failure. While the family initially considered commercial infant formula, the nutrition volunteer advised that exclusive maternal milk remained the optimal clinical path for the infant's recovery.
The nutrition team put Mee Mee* on a strict schedule of Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Ready-to-use Supplementary Food (RUSF). Khine Zar* and her mother enrolled in community-based nutrition sessions, attending mother group discussions four times a month alongside practical cooking demonstration.
Following consecutive months of targeted therapeutic feeding and regular MUAC monitoring, Mee Mee’s* nutritional status improved from the "red" category to the border of the "yellow" and to the healthy "green" zone, finally gaining weight and becoming more playful.
The stabilisation of her daughter's health gives Khine Zar* hope for her family's future.
"However, I have gone through a very difficult time, so I am trying to stay positive at present. My child has recovered, and I am also getting better day by day. That gives me strength and hope. My wish is simple. I want my family to live safely, happily, and in good health, and I hope my children can grow up well and have a good education in the future."
