Edesia Fights Malnutrition with Innovative Product
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
One of the best innovations in fighting hunger and malnutrition on a global scale comes right from Providence.
Meet Edesia, a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing healthy nutrition to millions of undernourished children in developing countries. They are the only US producer and distributor of Plumpy'nut products, which have been described as "a revolution in nutritional affairs," by Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders on CBS's 60 Minutes.
Sweet, tasty, and ready to use
Plumpy'nut is a ready-to-use (no refrigeration, mixing or cooking needed) therapeutic food that helps children recover from the most severe cases of malnutrition. "Made of peanuts, milk, powder, sugar and essential vitamins and minerals," said Edesia Communications Manager Marie Wisecup, "children can eat it straight from package and since it tastes like sweet peanut butter, children love how it tastes.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Mothers can take it home with them and treat their children from home without a costly hospital stay - a revolution in the treatment of malnutrition," she said. In addition, Edesia provides other products that are intended to treat or prevent moderate to acute malnutrition. The product is inexpensive, super effective and easy to use. It also tastes really good.
Battling hunger worldwide
This is a welcome innovation. More than 150 million children suffer from malnutrition worldwide, and it's estimated that every day 16,000 children die of starvation (more than AIDS, TB and malaria combined). In general, these children come from communities suffering from drought, rising market prices or political instability or conflict. Other solutions like therapeutic milk can be useless because mothers don't have access to clean water.
Since beginning production in March, Edesia's produced enough supplements to treat more than 100,000 kids and has shipped to programs in Haiti, Honduras, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The organization is a non-profit, and the easiest way to donate is through their Web site. You can also help by spreading the word to your family and friends. Join the Edesia Facebook page and follow them on Twitter too! You can even take a tour of the factory and try samples of the Plumpy'nut products by scheduling an appointment through [email protected].
