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January 30, 2008

Opinion: Doctor Pleads for Better Food Aid

Children in developing nations suffer from malnutrition that would be more easily prevented if the food aid given them by the United States and other nations were more targeted to their needs, writes Susan Shepherd, a pediatrician and medical adviser for Doctors Without Borders, in a The New York Times opinion article.

Malnutrition contributes to the deaths of five million children under the age of 5 every year, largely in countries that do not produce or have the resources to buy milk, Dr. Shepherd writes.

The key to helping such children, she continues, is a nutrient-rich paste that can be made locally, known as “ready-to-use food;” it’s composed of powdered milk, ground peanuts, oil, sugar, vitamins, and minerals and can be prepared without water, which, she says, “solves the problems of preparation, storage, and contamination.”

The United States and international bodies must press for the distribution of the paste beyond the most severely malnourished children, Dr. Shepherd says. “Children shouldn’t have to deteriorate to the point of severe malnutrition to ‘qualify’ for ready-to-use food.” She concludes, “The United States is the largest single donor of food aid in the world, but it doesn’t provide enough of what young children really need.”

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