“Malnutrition is not really about lack of food,” explains Deputy Representative of UNICEF Burkina Faso Sylvana Nzirorera. “It’s about how much a mother knows about feeding a young child, and this is linked to the whole issue of educated mothers ... "
Here at Edesia's factory in Providence, Rhode Island, we often get asked how Plumpy'Nut helps end the larger problem of childhood malnutrition. It's a great question. Plumpy'Nut itself is a frontline tool used in nutrition centers all over the world, where severe acute malnutrition is prevalent, to save lives. It's so successful, over 90% of children in a Plumpy'Nut treatment program will recover and continue to grow and thrive.
The other long-term benefit of Plumpy'Nut is that it starts an important conversation between a mother (or father) and a community health worker or doctor. When a mother seeks treatment for her sick child, she comes into contact with new knowledge about the importance of nutrition itself. This helps her sick baby, her other family members at home, and herself.
Often times, severe acute malnutrition is the end result of an unvaried diet. That's why organizations like UNICEF are emphasizing education to reduce childhood malnutrition. Today, I want to share with you a short video from UNICEF Burkina Faso (see link below), showing how mothers are learning how to prevent malnutrition in the first place. It's very encouraging to see.
With 20 million children in our world suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and over 1 million of them living in the Sahel, this is exactly the kind of solution that will help reduce the need for Plumpy'Nut in the future.
In the meantime, our factory will continue to make Plumpy'Nut for the children who don't have time to wait for the longer-term solutions. Thank you for your continued support. We could not reach as many of these children without your help and caring.
With gratitude and best wishes for a bright and hopeful holiday season from all of us at Edesia.
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"The situation was very bad ... If these children did not get immediate help, they would have died. We are thankful and appreciate the assistance that came through to help the children. Although there is need of continuous support so that these children do not get sick again." Aden Mahdi, Program Manager for SAACID.
As mainstream media updates from the Horn of Africa become more scarce, I wanted to share with you a new UNICEF video (see link below) about the situation in Somalia. It shows how Plumpy'Nut is still playing a vital role in saving the lives of children in this poor and struggling country - and how Plumpy'Nut is part of a larger solution to reduce childhood malnutrition. At the community health center, children receive Plumpy'Nut, vaccinations, antibiotics, and mothers are educated about breastfeeding and keeping a healthy home. This integrated approach is the key to lowering childhood malnutrition rates.
The video also highlights that last year during the height of the famine crisis, 30% of children in Somalia were severely malnourished, in danger of losing their lives. Now, that percentage has dropped by half to 16%. This is great progress, but that is still a very high number as compared to global standards. And, as we can all imagine, behind that percentage number, there remain thousands of children with infinite promise who need Plumpy'Nut to survive.
When I walk around our warehouse in Providence, Rhode Island, I do not see boxes of Plumpy'Nut stacked on pallets ready for shipment, but the possibility of miracles and chances at life waiting to happen. It is awe-inspiring and humbling all at once.
Your generosity to this project has inspired all of us at Edesia, which is why I wanted to also take this moment to thank you again for your continued support of our work.
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As you can already well imagine, the situation in the DR Congo continues to be uncertain, especially for the many thousands who are struggling to achieve a sense of safety and maintain access to adequate supplies of nutritious food. We just wanted to update you that, from our Providence, Rhode Island factory, we recently shipped out 10,000 boxes of Plumpy'Nut to the DR Congo, which means that 10,000 children with severe acute malnutrition can literally be revived and brought back to good health in a matter of weeks. We appreciate our humanitarian partners on the ground that receive our shipments and facilate the extremely hard work of saving these young lives. And we certainly appreciate your continued support and for helping us reach as many children as possible in this too-often forgotten region of our world. Thank you for your compassion and for bringing so much hope to others.
