Fighting global malnutrition

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 41, Issue 2

Every year, five million children worldwide die from malnutrition-related causes, including immune-system deficiency, increased risk of infection,decreased bone density and starvation. But a variety of local efforts are hoping to turn things around.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country struggling with conflict,food shortages, and poverty, thousands of lives are threatened by malnutrition. When a child is brought to one of the therapeutic Stabilization Centers at regional hospitals, run by the Congolese Ministry of Health with support from the organisation Action Against Hunger, they receive rations of specially formulated ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF). RUTF – such as Plumpy’nut,a peanut butter-based food produced by the French company Nutriset – is infused with vitamins and minerals and is used to quickly rehabilitate children suffering from malnutrition.

To read more, see: Locally Produced Products for Locally Consumed Products,Using Small Businesses to Create Local Markets and Protecting Wildlife While Improving Food Security, Health, and Livelihoods.