October 2007
Preventing Malnutrition in Niger

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In 2006, half of the children aged six months to three years in the Guidan Roumdji district of Maradi, Niger, suffered from acute malnutrition. In 2007, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provided nutritional supplements to more than 60,000 vulnerable children during the seasonal "hunger gap"—the roughly five- to six-month period between harvests when food stocks are typically leaner.

Mothers receive four containers per month of a ready-to-use food called Plumpy'Doz, and add three tablespoons every day to their child's regular diet, enriching it with a complete daily dose of essential nutrients and 250 calories.