Sufyanu was 3 years old when he arrived at the hospital in Sokoto, Nigeria, where noma patients are treated. He was suffering from this disease that mainly affects malnourished children, which starts as an infection in the gums and, without proper hygiene and knowledge of how to treat it, in a matter of days becomes a gangrene that literally devours the tissues of the face. Ninety percent of noma patients who do not receive proper treatment die, but Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams were able to nourish the boy, give him antibiotics and treat his wounds. They saved his life, but not his face: he is missing his upper lip and part of his nose. When he is older he will be able to have surgery to reconstruct his face so he can eat and interact more normally, but he will have to live with these terrible injuries and the stigma they carry for a few years. Noma is a preventable disease with proper nutrition and good oral hygiene, and in case of infection it is treatable with antibiotics if you act in time. Another thing is that, due to hunger, miserable living conditions and lack of access to healthcare, it does not seem likely to disappear soon from many regions of the planet.

The Madrid nurse Miriam Alía is the head of vaccination for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), seasoned in several emergency situations, such as the Ebola pandemic that swept through West Africa in 2014