Traveling exhibit highlights international malnutrition problem

Malnutrition is a serious medical condition that kills millions of children every year and affects another 195 million. Médecins Sans Frontieres — Doctors Without Borders — launched a campaign in 2010 called Starved For Attention in an attempt to give those children a voice and a chance.

Working closely with VII Photo Agency, MSF has been taking their educational traveling exhibit through the East Coast. The large white tents, recreating MSF's field hospitals, were in Patterson Park this past weekend, giving visitors a chance to interact with MSF volunteers and learn more about the problem of malnutrition.

Glancing at the map at the start of the exhibit shows that malnutrition exists almost everywhere in the world. Although more rare in developed countries, it is not entirely absent. Critical areas include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger and Bangladesh.

Despite the stereotype that a lack of public health education is a big contributor to malnutrition, MSF workers have found that is not always the case. People around the world may not use the same terminology as we do, such as essential fats, vitamins, proteins and minerals, but mothers everywhere know what is healthy for their children. Other circumstances, like extended periods of drought, poverty and sheer population density can have debilitating effects on a family's access to healthy food.

Beyond the map, visitors were led through a series of displays that show the chronological progression of MSF's work. Even though the medical humanitarian organization usually enters the field to provide emergency healthcare or treat epidemics, malnutrition makes an appearance in a majority of the places they visit.

MSF utilizes Middle-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) indicators while giving vaccinations. This provides a quick and efficient way of identifying malnutrition in children. Essentially working as rulers, the long strips of paper display a gradient from green, indicating adequately nourished, to red, meaning severely malnourished, or that the child is dying of starvation. Tim Harrison, a nurse who has worked on over six trips abroad with MSF, held up the strip pulled all the way to the red. At an 11.0 cm circumference, he could barely fit two fingers inside.

Recognizing a desperate need for healthy food, MSF began handing out packages of fortified milk for families to use. Although it was a good source of nutrients, the milk spoiled quickly and had to be boiled before serving, forcing MSF to distribute it only under supervision. Clean water is not always available, and heating water takes fuel that not every family can afford.

A breakthrough occured when companies began developing Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Coming in a variety of brands like Plumpy'nut, eeZeePaste NUT and Nutty Butta, these peanut butter pastes have revolutionized the abilities of MSF and other similar organizations to treat malnutrition. The ready-to-use paste does not need water, minimizing the risk of contamination, and can last for months on the shelf. It minimizes the possibility of mistakes that occur from the moment the food is handed to the mother to when the child eats it. Additionally, the paste can be produced in the countries that use it. With RUTFs, MSF has gone from treating 20,000 children in 2002 to over 300,000 in 2010.

International donors, including the U.S., Canada, countries in the European Union, Japan and Australia, provide aid to developing countries by packaging and shipping a simple corn-soy blend. The cereal-like blend takes away the gnaw of hunger but offers nothing nutritionally. It is best used as emergency food, ideal in situations where families are fleeing and need something to hold them over for a few days. But when the blend is used for long periods of time, children miss essential nutrients needed for growth. Passing through critical stages of development without basic nutrients results in physical and cognitive handicaps and even death.

The effects of malnutrition were recognized in the U.S. long ago; the government established the Women, Infants and Children's program (WIC) in the ‘70s in order to address malnutrition in the United States. WIC provides low-income families with access to healthy foods like milk, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables. The corn-soy blend has existed for almost as long as this program, yet the U.S. has done nothing to improve its nutritional qualities.

This perceived double standard is what MSF is trying to remedy. Every year, over 100,000 tons of the corn-soy blend is shipped abroad. At one time, it contained milk, which was removed by the government when milk prices rose. What children are left with is a nutritionally lacking porridge that does not meet the minimal standards for healthy growth. MSF is asking the nation: Would you give a child across the world something you would not give a child in America?

MSF's petition to upgrade the blend to higher quality food can be signed in person at the exhibit or online at www.starvedforattention.com. The exhibit will be in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16, World Food Day.