JOHANNESBURG, 12 January 2009 (IRIN) - In the biggest trial of Plumpy'doz, a variation of Plumpy'nut, a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), UNICEF plans to reach 100,000 children by mid-January.
Plumpy'doz is similar to Plumpy'nut in that it is possible to treat a child at home, without refrigeration, even where hygiene conditions are poor.
Somalia has one of the world's highest levels of malnutrition, with Global Acute Malnutrition rates of an estimated 18.6 percent, topping 20 percent in some areas, and 28 percent in displaced people's camps in Bossaso, northeast Somalia. Anything over 15 percent can be regarded as an emergency.
In the trial, children between six and 36 months old will receive three teaspoons of the paste of milk powder, sugar, peanut paste, oil, minerals and vitamins three times a day for eight months. Unlike Plumpy'nut, Plumpy'doz is a supplementary food, which comes in jars and is dispensed before children become malnourished; it has the same amount of micronutrients but a quarter of the calories.
Proper nutrition in the first three years is critical for the long-term health and growth of the child, as recent studies have shown.
"We are not saying that we can cull [eradicate] malnutrition, which is a complex problem, with Plumpy'doz, [but] we hope to make a difference to thousands of children in Somalia, where access to quality complementary food for young children remains difficult due to drought, extreme poverty and in addition high food prices," said Fitsum Assefa, UNICEF's nutrition specialist for Somalia.
A worsening drought, the global food crisis and a falling currency pushed the cost of imported cereals in Somalia up by almost 400 percent in 2007/2008, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Somalia is behind Zimbabwe in the countries worst hit by food inflation, according to Assefa. Milk and water are scarce.
Besides handing out Plumpy'doz to mothers, UNICEF will promote exclusive breastfeeding, a natural immune booster up to six months, and breastfeeding with complementary food for two years. Only 13 percent of Somali infants younger than six months are exclusively breastfed, according to UNICEF.
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