Talking Plumpy´nut and School Feeding

Last week I was interviewed by Elizabeth Stoltz, founding editor of Plumpy'nut Press. This magazine is a great source for all things about the plumpy'nut foods that combat malnutrition in infants.

The focus was on my Ending World Hunger interview series and book. I also included some accounts of supplementary plumpy in action in Yemen. The plumpy stories, courtesy of Maria Santamarina of the World Food Programme (WFP), illustrate how amazing these life-saving foods can be.

These foods are going to play a huge role in the Pakistan relief operation, and WFP is mobilizing stocks of supplementary plumpy as we speak.

Infant nutrition, coupled with school feeding, is a powerful combination for ending world hunger. Together they build children's nutrition levels, avoiding the potential mental and physical damage that can happen with malnourishment.

For school age children, food encourages class attendance and boosts performance. They don't have to be in the street foraging for food and learning of the harshness of life.

Both these programs are in short supply in countries all around the world. We must move to fill the shortages whether it’s for children in flood-ravaged Pakistan, in drought- stricken Niger, in Yemen and other countries.

Gaps in school feeding must also be closed. This type of interim aid will be a way to stabilize food security in many countries and prevent a further deterioration of their situation.

For the long-term there has to be increased local food production, storage and transport capability. This is the essence of the Feed the Future initiative, although more nations need to be included. This coincides with peace building at the local and national level.

Relatively speaking, it would not be very expensive to tackle global hunger. Its cost would be minimal when compared to the expense of maintaining nuclear arsenals in the post-Cold War world. The investment in food security pays far greater dividends in terms of building a peaceful world.