Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

Ever heard of a new food called Plumpy Nut?

The very name has a gluttonous connotation. It sounds fatty. Calorie-heavy. Stocked full of sugar and oil. And in actuality, Plumpy Nut is all of the above.

Children everywhere, from the United States to Niger, need energy-dense, nutrient-rich food. Plumpy Nut is an innovative part of the Doctors Without Borders solution to the international crisis of malnutrition. As filling as its name suggests, Plumpy Nut contains peanut butter, milk powder, sugar, oil, and a complex combination of vitamins and minerals. In 2005, Doctors Without Borders served 60,000 children with Plumpy Nut; this year, the organization will reach over 100,000 children with this Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food. 

Plumpy Nut is a fantastic, small-scale example of an organization reaching a happy medium between providing aid and pushing for self-sustainability. Here, mothers do not lose valuable time lingering at ambulatory clinics for food. They take Plumpy Nut, in its neat and compact bar form, home with them and return regularly for additional supplies and medical exams for their children. Eventually, with the help of Plumpy Nut, these children will move out of the red zone of malnutrition. 

Check out Anderson Cooper’s coverage of Plumpy Nut here

--SHANIKA