In the arid strip of land below the Sahara desert, there is a food crisis that has gone well beyond emergency levels. Last week, UNICEF announced that in some parts of the drought-stricken country of Chad, 1 in 4 children are suffering acute malnutrition.
If you haven’t already, read this in-depth story in the New York Times about Plumpy’nut, the revolutionary therapeutic food that pulls children back from the brink of severe malnutrition.
Tyler Lewis has been interning in the U.S. Fund’s PR and Creative Services departments. This is her last Fieldnotes post–we are sad to see her go!
When you think of major global causes for humanitarian aid over the past few years, you probably think of well-publicized emergencies like the earthquake in Haiti, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the conflict in Darfur. We know that there are people in the world who suffer from famine, poverty and disease, but naming specific instances of their suffering can sometimes prove to be a challenge.
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| Ikashe feeds her son Mare therapeutic nut spread, also known as Plumpy’nut. |
My name is Ikashe. I’m from southern Ethiopia and last week I traveled with my eleven month old son Mare to the local health center in Yirba. He is severely malnourished. We live in a very dry part of the country and many other mothers from this region bring their children to the center every week. My family lives off a small plot of land. I grow maize and root crops such as sweet potato. In 2008, we hardly grew anything. Since then, we’ve been depending on food aid to feed our family.
My son Mare was very underweight and I brought him to the health center for the first time last week. Mare weighed only 12 pounds and UNICEF supplied me with a weekly ration of Plumpy’nut for him to eat. This week is only our second visit but already his condition has improved a lot. After only seven days, Mare has already increased to 13 pounds after eating Plumpy’nut. You can see that he likes the food very much. His appetite has improved and he is eating well.
This week, the health workers weighed Mare’s arms and said that he is still malnourished. I was given another weekly supply of Plumpy’nut. But we are lucky. Mare has already started to recover and the doctors say that if there are no problems, he should return to normal in about one month’s time. I think that Mare and all the other children like Plumpy’nut because it tastes good. It’s sweet and tastes like peanut butter. It contains lots of energy and is full of proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals so that he can overcome his malnutrition.
If you would like to buy a Mother’s Day present that really makes a difference, and help other mothers like Ikashe to nourish their children, you can buy therapeutic nut spread, otherwise known as Plumpy’nut, from UNICEF’s full range of Inspired Gifts.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the FEED Guatemala Bags for UNICEF really are a bright idea!
Handmade by women artisans in Guatemala from traditional Ikat fabrics, the FEED Guatemala pouch and bag will be available for purchase exclusively at Lord & Taylor stores nationwide and online just in time for Mother’s Day. FEED bags are part of the FEED Projects co-founded by UNICEF Next Generation steering committee member Lauren Bush. The goal of the FEED Projects is to support partners like UNICEF who provide nutrition to children through the sale of FEED bags. Lack of nutrition is a serious problem in Guatemala with nearly 23% of children over three months and under five years of age suffering from malnutrition while almost one-half suffer from chronic malnutrition. After travelling to Guatemala with UNICEF, Lauren wanted to double her efforts for the nutrition programs there – hence, the FEED Guatemala bags.
Here’s how it works: for every FEED 1 pouch sold, FEED donates $3.50 to the U.S Fund for UNICEF to provide daily nutrition for a child in Guatemala. For every FEED 3 Guatemala bag sold, FEED donates $10.50 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, to provide daily nutrition for 3 kids for a year. That’s a whole lot of numbers but it’s really simple – FEED 1 pouch will help 1 child and FEED 3 bag will help 3 children for not one day or one month but an entire year.
From Ann Putnam Marks and Karen Turney in Panama. March 17, 2010
Our day began with a long drive to the “Comarca” (in Spanish it is an autonomous indigenous reserve) where many people from the Ngobe Bugle ethnic group live. We arrived at Nutrehogar, a nutrition center for malnourished children supported by UNICEF. We soon met a woman holding a limp, visibly malnourished child in her arms. The woman had walked a long distance in the heat to reach the center in search of help for the little girl, Betsy, who was clearly suffering. And although two years old, she appeared much younger. If her physical growth was this stunted, we can only imagine how much her learning potential had been affected, too. We learned Betsy was in such critical condition that Nutrehogar had arranged for her to be transported to a special medical center where she will be restored to good health and to her childhood and potential.
Nutrehogar provides critical nutritional intervention and early childhood development to children in need. Children in the Comarca are at greater risk for malnutrition, healthcare, and education, so Nutrehogar fulfills a critical gap for the youngest, most vulnerable children in this community. The center also trains mothers in the community about nutrition and how to care for and stimulate children from before their birth through age 5. Betsy and the other children we met there underscore the importance of UNICEF’s partnership with this NGO and our shared resolve to do whatever it takes to save a child.
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Child Survival
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