Precious E., 1

Precious is a four-month-old baby, the youngest in a family of five children. She lives with her mother and siblings in a one-bedroom mud-walled house at their grandmother’s homestead. Her mother is a single parent with no stable income and relies mainly on produce from her kitchen garden to support the family. Precious began showing signs of illness three days before visiting the hospital. Her mother noticed that the baby was breastfeeding poorly, had recurrent fever, cough, and nasal congestion, but she was unable to buy medication due to lack of money. As the days passed, the baby became increasingly weak, lethargic, and struggled to breathe, which raised serious concern. A neighbour whose child had previously received treatment through Helpster Charity at Helmi Jonas visited and noticed the baby’s high fever, breathing difficulty, nasal congestion, and reduced activity. The neighbour informed the mother about the support available through Helpster and encouraged her to seek urgent care. She then requested transport from another neighbour and rushed Precious to the hospital.

Precious was diagnosed with severe pneumonia and severe dehydration and was treated with ceftriaxone injection, per rectal gacet, gentamycin injection, Iv fluids (Normal saline and dextrose 5%), predinsolone syrup and paracetamol syrup. She responded so well to the care and management she was given. Her condition improved and the child stabilized, she was then discharged on oral medications to continue with at home. A followup was made on a clinic revisit confirmed that Precious was doing well and had fully recovered.

Following timely treatment and continued monitoring, Precious is expected to steadily regain strength, resume normal feeding, and continue healthy growth. Precious was diagnosed with severe pneumonia complicated by severe dehydration due to poor feeding, a combination that placed her in a critical and life-threatening condition. She required urgent admission for oxygen support, intravenous fluids, antibiotics, and close monitoring to stabilize her breathing and restore hydration.