An interview with Youssouf Cisse

What is your role within Action Against Hunger and what does it involve?

I am a Nutrition Assistant with ACF, based in Gao in eastern Chad. My role involves the following activities:

• The supervision of coordinators
• Monthly reporting
• Monitoring the quality and effectiveness of the treatment of malnourished children
• The evaluation of health structures
• Training and monitoring of teams in Referral Health Centres and Community Health Centres.

I have been working for ACF for 3 months.

Could you describe the nutritional context of the region of Mali in which you work? What causes the high rates of malnutrition?

The nutritional context is characterised by:

• A high rate of malnutrition
• Poor feeding practices (lack of knowledge about the nutritional value of local foods)
• Poverty (inadequate access to drinking water and medical care)
• Poor hygiene practices

What motivates you to go to work every day? What is your inspiration?

• The treatment of malnourished children
• Having a career in an international NGO
• Personally contributing to the reduction of malnutrition in my region
• Having the opportunity to save lives as a doctor
• The recognition by the communities in which I work of my efforts to combat malnutrition