12/01/2025
In Bolivia, child malnutrition remains a silent emergency. According to recent data, 16.1% of children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth, a figure that rises to 23.7% in rural areas. Behind these statistics lie harsh realities: limited access to adequate healthcare, unbalanced diets, lack of nutritional education, and families’ economic vulnerability.
In response, the Simón I. Patiño Foundation acts with a simple yet powerful conviction: every child deserves to grow up healthy, everywhere and without exception. For several years, it has deployed a comprehensive strategy combining medical care, nutritional prevention, family education, and economic empowerment.
Through its concrete actions, the Foundation proves that it is possible to sustainably transform children’s lives—and eliminate malnutrition at its root.
In Bolivia, child malnutrition persists despite institutional efforts. It mainly affects children under five, a critical period for physical and cognitive development. Stunted growth, the main indicator of chronic malnutrition, still affects one in six children, according to recent data.
Beyond this national average, the situation is highly unequal. In rural areas, the rate reaches nearly 24%, with even higher peaks in remote Andean regions. These geographic disparities reflect unequal access to healthcare, nutritious food, and nutritional education.
Malnutrition in Bolivia results from a combination of social, economic, and cultural factors: food insecurity, poor hygiene, misinformation, and structural poverty. In many families, limited resources prevent access to nutritious food, and knowledge about infant nutrition remains weak or inappropriate.
The consequences are severe: irreversible growth delays, weakened immune systems, learning difficulties—and ultimately, a major impact on the country’s development.
Faced with this reality, isolated actions are not enough. A comprehensive, multisectoral, and long-term strategy must be mobilized—like the one implemented by the Patiño Foundation.
In the highlands of El Alto, the Patiño Foundation’s Child Nutrition Center cares for children suffering from malnutrition through a rigorous and compassionate medical approach. Each child is assessed by a multidisciplinary team: pediatricians, nutritionists, psychologists, and social workers collaborate to provide personalized and continuous follow-up.
Families receive comprehensive support, including low-cost consultations, educational workshops, and close monitoring over several months. In 2023, more than 1,200 children were cared for at the center, with tangible results: weight gain, resumed growth, and revitalized cognitive development.
In Potosí, the Encuéntranos program operates in vulnerable neighborhoods to prevent malnutrition before it takes hold. The focus is on family education, through regular workshops on hygiene, nutrition, and early childhood care.
Each child receives fortified snacks, and families are supported by local facilitators. In parallel, home visits help build trust and tailor advice to each family’s situation.
This community-based model creates a lasting local dynamic where prevention becomes a shared reflex.
In Cochabamba, the Foundation supports a pediatric center for children affected by health conditions worsened by malnutrition: severe anemia, recurring infections, digestive issues.
The goal: to provide specialized medical treatment while integrating a nutritional rehabilitation program. The most complex cases are stabilized, then referred to follow-up programs such as the El Alto Center or Encuéntranos.
This link between curative care, prevention, and educational support is the cornerstone of the Patiño Foundation’s strategy: a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach rooted in the realities of the field.
At the Patiño Foundation, fighting malnutrition goes beyond treatment. It starts upstream with family education and empowerment. Every program includes a strong educational component where mothers—often the main caregivers—learn to prepare balanced meals using local ingredients, improve household hygiene, and monitor their children’s growth.
Group workshops are held in neighborhoods and villages, supported by nutrition kits and illustrated teaching materials. The goal: to make information accessible, actionable, and passed on across generations.
Since poverty is one of the root causes of malnutrition, the Patiño Foundation also takes action on the economic front. In several rural areas, it supports the development of family micro-enterprises: vegetable gardens, poultry farming, enriched food production. These initiatives help families achieve food self-sufficiency and generate additional income.
By promoting autonomy over dependence, the Foundation embraces a sustainable development approach in which every family plays an active role in improving its well-being.
Finally, the Foundation works hand in hand with local authorities, health centers, schools, and other organizations. This multisectoral approach ensures better coordination of efforts and deeper reach into remote areas.
The statistics are alarming, but behind them lie names, faces, and stories. And above all, there are solutions that work. Thanks to its coordinated efforts in El Alto, Cochabamba, and Potosí, the Patiño Foundation has shown that an integrated approach—combining healthcare, prevention, education, and solidarity-based economics—can reverse the trend of child malnutrition.
Each program is designed not as a one-time intervention, but as a lever for sustainable transformation. Children regain their strength, families gain valuable knowledge, and communities organize around local initiatives. Ultimately, it’s not just lives that are saved, but futures that are rebuilt.
This model works because it is based on listening, local engagement, and long-term commitment. The goal is not to impose external solutions, but to co-create with Bolivian families effective, dignified, and context-appropriate responses.
But to go further—to expand this work to more regions, to support more children, and to strengthen local capacities—we need allies. Concrete support, strong voices, and partners who believe in this vision.
Child malnutrition is a constant battle. And every action counts. Support our efforts to eradicate child malnutrition in Bolivia. Together, let’s give every child the chance to grow up healthy and build a better future.
