HourChallenge

A friend passed along an interesting article to me this weekend.  What struck me most is how much more effective this new program is than the standard corn-based remedies - 25 spoonfuls of porridge (the current treatment for undernourishment in Malawi) is to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the concentrated peanut butter concoction.  And that 70% of all children suffer from malnutrition in Malawi.

Thousands of starving children could be restored to health with peanut-butter program.
By Beth Miller

Sept. 11, 2007 — An enriched peanut-butter mixture given at home is successfully promoting recovery in large numbers of starving children in Malawi, according to a group of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Malnutrition affects 70 percent of all Malawian children with an estimated 13 percent of children dying from it before the age of five.

Mark J. Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics and an emergency pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, has spent several years researching the use of the enriched peanut-butter mixture, called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) with small groups of severely and moderately malnourished young children in the sub-Saharan African country. The nutrient-rich mixture contains peanuts, powdered milk, oil, sugar, and added vitamins and minerals. Produced in a Malawian factory, the mixture is given to the mothers of the children to feed at home.

Read the entire article here.