HUNGRY CHILDREN:

At this epicenter of Niger’s latest hunger crisis, Plumpy’nut is saving lives…

Plumpy’nut, which comes in a silvery foil package the size of two grasping baby-size hands, is 500 calories of fortified peanut butter, a beige paste about as thick as mashed potatoes and stuffed with milk, vitamins and minerals.

…Since the packets came into the hands of relief organizations during the Darfur crisis in Sudan, they have been revolutionizing emergency care for severely malnourished children who are old enough to take solid food, by taking care out of crowded field hospitals and straight into mothers’ homes.

The prescription given to mothers here is simple: give one baby two packets of Plumpy’nut each day…badly malnourished babies can gain one to two pounds a week eating Plumpy’nut.

(more, including a link to donate to Doctors Without Borders; lit’ry types might also consider signing up here, where if you donate to DWB you can read an exceptional “Hamlet from Claudius’s perspective” novel)

ETA: Or, better yet, send your money to charities that don’t promote contraception and abortion. Like Catholic Relief Services, about whom I’ve heard nothing but good things. Or many of the groups listed here. Here for more.