MALNUTRITION: A plan for ending child hunger and malnutrition: Plumpynut

July 7th, 2010
When you read the Roadmap to End Global Hunger legislation, the alarming statistics on child hunger and malnutrition leap off the page.
"The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that 9,200,000 children under the age of 5 die every year, mostly from preventable and treatable causes, and that child and maternal malnutrition contributes to approximately 6,000,000 deaths of children under the age of 5 annually."
What can we do? There is a special food that can largely alleviate this massive hunger crisis. This food is called plumpy'nut, and it is produced by Nutriset in France, Edesia in the United States, as well as other organizations around the world.
Funding is desperately needed for emergency programs that would provide this life-saving food.
It's also imperative that the food reaches children before they fall deep into malnutrition. Ensuring that countries have adequate supplies of this nutritional food is a much more effective strategy. Navyn Salem, director of Edesia, says, "Avoiding dangerous levels of malnutrition is more cost effective and much better for the health of the children."
To accomplish this means developing an effective distribution of plumpy'nut across the globe. There are already production facilities in Ethiopia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and several other countries. These facilities need to increase their capacity.
Developing plumpy'nut production facilities in other countries will increase the availability of the life- saving food and speed its delivery .The example of Yemen was cited in one of my most recent articles. There are others, including Guatemala and Haiti.
Here is a description of plumpy'nut and supplementary plumpy from the Edesia web site.
Plumpy'nut® is specifically designed for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition. It is suitable for ages 6 months and up.
Treatment generally lasts between 6 and 10 weeks depending on the severity of the condition. The nutritional value is identical to F-100 milk. Breastfeeding is recommended until 24 months (exclusive until 6 months).
Ingredients: Blend of vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: palm oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil), sugar, peanuts, nonfat milk powder, whey, maltodextrin, vitamin and mineral complex, cocoa, emulsifier: monoglycerides, lecithin.
Recommended Use: Plumpy’nut® does not require any prior cooking, dilution or refrigeration. Simply open the package and eat the contents.
Dosage: For severe acute malnutrition: 200 kcal/kg/day (i.e. two sachets/day/5 kg child).For moderate acute malnutrition: 75 kcal/kg/day (i.e. one sachet/day/5 kg child).
Storage: The shelf life is 24 months. See best before date stamped on each sachet.It is recommended to keep the product in a cool and dry place at a temperature below 86°F (30°C). It is recommended not to stack the pallets.
Plumpy’nut® complies with the definition of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) that requires no prior preparation, dilution or reconstitution.*
*Reference: “Community Based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition”. A joint statement by the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition and the United Nations Children Fund, May 2007.
Supplementary’Plumpy® is a Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) used to address moderate acute malnutrition. It is a high-energy nutritional food supplement, suitable for ages 6 months and up.
It is particularly adapted for children exiting therapeutic nutrition programs as a means of preventing the re-emergence of severe acute malnutrition.
This product is also suitable for other groups of people suffering from moderate acute malnutrition (adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, people living with HIV and other vulnerable adults). Breastfeeding is recommended until 24 months (exclusive until 6 months).
Ingredients: Blend of vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: palm oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil), sugar, peanuts, whey, maltodextrin, soy protein isolate, cocoa, vitamin and mineral complex, emulsifier: lecithin.
Recommended Use: Supplementary’Plumpy® does not require any prior cooking or dilution and does not need to be refrigerated. Simply open the package and eat the contents.
Dosage: For moderate acute malnutrition: 75 kcal/kg/day (i.e. one sachet/day/5 kg child).Adult dosage: diagnose on a case by case basis.
Storage:The shelf life is 24 months. See best before date stamped on each sachet.It is recommended to keep the product in a cool and dry place at a temperature below 86°F (30°C). It is recommended not to stack the pallets.
http://www.examiner.com/global-hunger-in-national/a-plan-for-ending-child-hunger-and-malnutrition