thanks all for a wonderful discussion .i share with you a similar one pager developed for Sudan on utilisation of abundant wild foods to sustainably treat acute malnutrition through the STOMS initiative.Read below and thanks SUSTAINABLE TREATMENT OF ACUTE MALNUTRITION IN SUDAN -STOMS Going really <local> with the management of acute malnutrition Feasibility Trials into the Production of community therapeutic food using peanut (ground nuts) and naturally occurring oil seed (Lulu) in South Sudan: In south Sudan, Malnutrition remains rampant and continues to kill children unnecessarily with donor attention quickly shifting to provision of services long known to be longer routes of reducing malnutrition: most of which though very necessary take decades to achieve any impact . Essential nutrition actions that are shorter routes to alleviating child malnutrition unfortunately are not receiving as much attention. In the mean time few lucky vulnerable communities continue to receive one off feeding programmes that utilize expensive pea nut paste imported a cost of more than USD 4,500 per metric tonne.During the peak hunger times, access to some of these few programmes are further compounded by heavy remains making most households with malnourished children to be cut out of the centers. Even with efforts to decentralize as much as possible through approaches like CTC, coverage still remains low in south Sudan and sustainability of the programmes especially on the supply of Plumpy nut continues to be a big issue that needs to be addressed. Local production of Plumpy nut has been trialed in a number of countries through franchise arrangements but ultimately these needs some NGO etc buying the product for final free distribution to the beneficiaries. But what happens if the NGO doesn't buy the commodity or runs short of donor funding and the MOH budget can't manage to ensure a consistent flow of Plumpy nut as is the case currently in most counties faced with massive malnutrition problems? And what about the poor who cant afford the product even if it were to be socially marketed?
In order to treat malnutrition sustainably during non famine situations, efforts to tackle the problem should therefore be focused at the household level through the utilization of local and in some cases naturally occurring uncultivated foods that are familiar to the affected communities. The use of these easily available resources stimulates indigenous knowledge and practices and empowers communities to address some of the route causes of malnutrition. So many combinations exist that are useful in the production of therapeutic foods .the big problem that hinders uptake remains the amount of ingredients that need to come out of the production area and the eventual access of these products to the poor who practically are the ones who are more affected with the problem of malnutrition.
For the production of the valuable product to go really local, the use of peanuts and oil from the Lulu tree (very common in lakes state and parts of warrab state) to produce some of the ready to eat food for correcting acute malnutrition is one such avenue that is worth pursuing and replicating. This indigenous knowledge already exists and will only need initial resources for training the community on food hygiene, preparation, storage, quality control and administration among other things. It's hoped that such a venture targeting households will give enough health benefits and returns to households through the treatment of their malnourished children and consequently raise the potential for increased production. This in the long term goes along way to increasing the human productivity in south Sudan through reduced child mortality and morbidity. However as is with any product development, it's vital to conduct a feasibility study to lay a ground work and provide an initial information framework for the promotion of the home making of therapeutic food in south Sudan.
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