By Christina Bonanni
This post is part of a series where Nourishing the Planet asks its readers: What works? Every week we’ll ask the question and every week you can join the conversation!
If fruits and vegetables can be included in the diets of poor African men and women, it is much more likely to aid them in combating Vitamin A and C deficiencies, and provide a more diverse diet.
Malnutrition is caused when there is an insufficient intake of the nutritious foods an individual needs to grow and functional normally, which can lead to developmental challenges and stunted growth. The International Food Policy Research Institute predicts an 18 percent rise in the number of malnourished children in sub-Saharan African from 2001 to 2020. Many international aid organizations are fighting to combat malnutrition on both the small and large scale.
Doctors without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is working in African communities to raise awareness about malnutrition. MSF developed a multimedia campaign, Starved for Attention, which distributes free action kits to help communities and activists organize their own awareness raising events. One hundred and ninety-five million children around the world suffer from malnutrition every year, with 90 percent living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Starved for Attention’s goal is to highlight the importance of ensuring that children receive the essential nutrients needed to ward off disease and become productive members of society as adults.
In Washington, D.C. in November 2010, international experts gathered at the First Global Conference on Biofortification to discuss the future of malnutrition. “Malnutrition is the single biggest global health problem in the world,” announced Ambassador William J. Garvelink, the deputy coordinator for President Obama’s initiative, Feed the Future. Biofortification is the process of breeding higher levels of essential micronutrients, such as Vitamin A, iron and zinc, into the staple crops that provide nourishment to vulnerable people, especially women and children.
The conference was organized by HarvestPlus, a research organization that seeks to reduce hidden hunger and works to provide micronutrients to a billion people worldwide through the staple foods they eat. Through biofortification, the poor who eat staple crops like rice, cassava and sweet potatoes are being targeted. HarvestPlus Director Howarth Bouis made the specific point that the “long term goal is to improve incomes and diversify diets” to alleviate malnutrition.
At the World Food Prize Symposium, the Direct General of AVRDC – World Vegetable Center, Dyno Keatinge, explained that alleviating hunger worldwide would require more than just providing people with more calories. Keatinge suggested investment to include more research and support for the production of fruits and vegetables, specifically to address the growing number of people suffering from malnutrition. The World Vegetable Center is working to spread awareness. If fruits and vegetables can be included in the diets of poor African men and women, it is much more likely to aid them in combating Vitamin A and C deficiencies, and provide a more diverse diet. Keatinge believes that no man should have to live on bread alone.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of lives are threatened by acute malnutrition, a problem that is exacerbated by the country’s internal conflict and poverty. The Congolese Ministry of Health receives support from the organization Action Against Hunger to provide rations of specially formulated Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) for children suffering from acute malnutrition. The food is produced by the French company Nutriset, and is infused with vitamins and minerals to quickly rehabilitate children suffering from hunger. In addition to obtaining RUTFs from UNICEF Action Against Hunger purchases locally from Amwili, a company that makes RUTFs ina Lubumbashi, DRC. Amwili uses locally-procured ingredients and helps create jobs processing and packaging the RUTFs.
These initiatives are just a few of the programs in place to combat acute malnutrition. Do you know of any other inventive projects that are helping combat malnutrition worldwide?
Tell Nourishing the Planet what works and have your answers featured on the blog. Email me at Dnierenberg@Worldwatch.org or tweet your response to @WorldWatchAg.
Christina Bonanni is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project.
