Disturbed by the number of malnourished children coming into their hospitals, two paediatricians decided to find youngsters before they needed hospitalisation.

In 2017, doctors Lesego Ndhlovu and Keketso Mopeli were working at Johannesburg’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. With a common passion for helping children, the two became friends and soon realised they shared another commonality: their concern about the number of children they were treating who were malnourished.

Having worked at hospitals in Johannesburg and the North West, they had come across many cases in children under the age of five...