 August 10th, 2011
09:15 AM ET
Photo credit: Aminu Abubakar/AFP/Getty Images Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reporting live from Somalia with more on the disturbing hunger situation. "AC360º" is now at 8 and 10 ET weeknights on CNN. It has a funny sounding name. So funny in fact, that you might be tempted to not take it seriously. It's called Plumpy’Nut. The kids here in Somalia just call it Plumpy. If you have never heard of it, you probably have never truly been hungry or lived in a country where malnutrition is prevalent. It has been called a magic potion, as big a development as penicillin, and is widely credited with single-handedly lowering mortality rates from famine in Africa. With Plumpy’nut, invented by pediatrician André Briend in 1996 and manufactured and marketed by France's Nutriset, the feedings were exponentially easier. Kids could take their feedings at home, the cost was decreased, and perhaps most importantly for little kids: it tasted good. Briend had, in fact, drawn his inspiration from another delicious, kid-friendly product with a pretty comical sounding name – Nutella. According to the UN, a child dies every five seconds because of hunger – more than AIDS, TB and malaria combined. The condition of starvation is just as easy to get as it is tricky to treat. Provide a food too rich or high in saturated fats, and the child may not absorb it across their intestines. High calorie chocolate bars were thought to be a viable alternative, until they actually were tried in Eastern Africa, where they wilted and melted. A paste: that was the solution. It would store easily and be rich in protein and energy. And, there started the creation of a revolution in nutrition. Read Humanitarian agency accelerates efforts to fight hunger in Africa and visit Impact Your World and learn how you can help Previously - "Feed the world's children. This, we should be able to do." |
  Recent Posts
"I'd like to thank the Cabernet!" @islewine toasts the 2012 Oscar noms with wine pairings: http://t.co/ZD4MiD92 8:32 pm UTC, February 24 2012
Wherein @jvelezmitchell cooks & eats garbage: http://t.co/gl0Ni9Ps #freegan #vegan #gojanego 3:49 pm UTC, February 24 2012
Chip, chip hooray! The scoop on National Tortilla Chip Day: http://t.co/HXZvFkGd 3:03 pm UTC, February 24 2012
Please take a moment to regard this exceptionally large lobster: http://t.co/xo3txTdc 1:54 am UTC, February 24 2012
Mr. @Jeffreyaustin10 of @YonderMountain on homeless past, food fanaticism & why @ChefMartinYan is his kitchen god: http://t.co/7nuqaW4j 10:34 pm UTC, February 23 2012
 |
 |
|
© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Help | Advertising Practices
I am happy that someone came up with a viable solution to help kids who are starving now. Politics and cultural shifts take decades or centuries, but at least the kid that hasn't eaten for two days can get some nutrition from this paste. It is a small step, but this is a positive step.
People don't starve to death because there is no food – people starve to death because of POLITICS. Every year, tons of food supplies are hijacked and re-routed for sale by terrorists. TENS OF TONS of pallets of food products lie rotting in the sun on docks and in warehouses because of poor or non-existent distribution plans.
Terrorists lie in wait along roadways and distribution routes – when the trucks stop to re-fuel or to unload their cargo, the terrorists swoop in, scatter the refugees and drivers and food workers with gunfire, hijack the truck and take off with the food.
This happens every day in countries where civil unrest is a way of life.
We have PLENTY of food on this planet – but witholding food from those who need it the most is a power game played by those who DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE LIFE OF A CHILD WHO WILL LIVE AND DIE IN POVERTY.
I bet that stuff tastes horrible. No thanks...I'll stick with Cheese Nips.
Someone needs to get a serious birth control program going over there. Until those people get educated and change their culture to act responsibly when it comes to having children, then it will continue to be a lose-lose situation. Providing a child a couple of meals is merely a bandaid solution. Sending money for food is like flushing your money down the drain. After you give a child a couple of meals, then what?
If they don't have access to food, they don't have access to birth control.
Many of the children you see are the result of rape as well. This is a war zone.
So un-PC to say, but I wonder how many of these kids will grow up to be pirates or jihadists?
Or will be picked up by Spanish colonists and taken to the new world...
The majority of them do not live past the age of five.
Please help by clicking the "LIKE" button on our page on FACEBOOK. (copy and paste this link):
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=100733520029081&id=1604566201&ref=notif¬if_t=share_comment#!/pages/Somalia-Famine-Call-to-Action/144650028952861
What an ache in my heart I have for the Somalia people. I believe most people want to help although it is such a huge crisis it is overwhelming. Can someone help me understand why they continue to having children only for them to suffer & die?When you multiply each female by 9 children??? Yes I continue to financially & prayerfully support the cause.
They have 9 children per family because they know quite well most of them won't survive their childhood.
It has only taken us a century to develop something simple to save lives when starvation is the problem. How long will it take for humanity to solve the diilemas of war: the destruction of farmland, grazing animals, and people?
As long as we keep politicians in office who believe that war is the answer to anything, the "dilemmas" will never be solved.
Interesting that as the dominant species on this planet we do the most damage to it and to each other.
Sadly as the dominant species, we can also be the most self-centered & callous. If we lived as the animals did, off the land to survive and perpetuate the species, the survivors would treat the planet much differently. But then those survivors would be a different type of person than the types of people who rule the world today.
Vampires are far superior to humans.
The survivor's would not be much different. There is no magic button to automatically make us peaceful.
Even you are not peaceful.
Why don't you dig into the finances of your state representatives and find out for yourself how many of them are getting rich from war? As long as men can line their pockets from the profits of war it won't EVER stop.
War is a money-making business. If there isn't a war, a war will be created. Making weapons and bio-weapons is tremendously profitable.
It's a lot mroe profitable to make weapons than it is to feed little children.
As long as men are more interested in profits than feeding little children this will not EVER stop.
A crisis such as this thrives in societies where women have little value or presence in political and cultural decision making.
I wish I can help ... I donated to SavetheChildren.org – I wish I can do more...
I pray for these starving people...