6 Aug 2011
by Katie Chisholm, Kathryn Chinn, Sydney Ryan, Sai Cheruvu, MD
The first stop at the Outreach Clinic in Syokisinga was child malnutrtion screening with Sai and Katie, CHW Mutinda and others. The children were weighed and measured to determine nutrition status.
The severity of malnutrition is based on the weight for height measurement . . Although the majority of children were considered malnourished, the number that met the criteria for supplements was small.
One of the most memorable children was this 12 month old boy who had been on unimix but still had lost weight. When the volunteers brought out a package of PlumpiNut, the child lit up and devoured the contents.
PlumpiNut is a a fortified peanut butter product that is given to the most malnourished infants (3 standard deviations below normal weight, older children and slightly less malnourished children may be given Unimix, a fortified whole grain porridge.
see this recent allafrica news story
