When aid organizations intervene to address malnutrition and prevent famine, they have tools at their disposal that were unimaginable a decade ago. For instance, Plumpy’Nut, a peanut paste that contains vegetable oil, milk powder, vitamins, and minerals and costs less than fortified milk formulas, revolutionized the aid scene during the recent food crisis in Niger. Referred to as a “miracle product,” Plumpy’Nut has streamlined the aid operations of several organizations.
“In 2002 it took 2,000 staff to treat 10,000 children during a famine in Angola,” Stephane Doyon, a nutrition team leader at Medecins Sans Frontieres Doctors without Borders told the BBC in April 2010. “In Niger we needed just 150 staff for the same number of patients. Thanks to Plumpy’Nut, mass treatment is suddenly possible.”
