Kristof: Child malnutrition lost in politics over aid cuts [View all]

By Nicholas Kristof / The New York Times

As President Trump suspends a large share of foreign aid, the winner of my annual win-a-trip contest is reflecting on her reporting with me in Africa. The winner, Trisha Mukherjee, has written guest columns about menstruation as an impediment to education and about breastfeeding to save babies’ lives.

As I’ve written, the gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the uncertainty around foreign aid seem to me a terrible mistake, deriving from a misperception that aid does no good. So I asked Trisha to recount the malnutrition we saw as well as the solutions that ease it. Here’s what Trisha wrote:

In a one-room clinic in rural Madagascar, a wide-eyed baby boy named Mercia watched as his mother tore open a packet of something that looked like peanut butter. Mercia devoured the paste, leaving traces all over his cheeks.

Malnutrition isn’t always something we think much about, but every year it’s a factor in the deaths of 2 million children younger than 5 worldwide. One-fifth of all children in that age group are stunted from malnutrition. But these packets — which public health workers call “small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements” — prevent that malnutrition, for just $36 for a year’s supply. Mercia’s yummy morning treat could save his life.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/kristof-child-malnutrition-lost-in-politics-over-aid-cuts/