What is MANA? What’s RUTF? Those of us in the developed world
can’t imagine the sense of despair and helplessness that
millions of mothers in the developing world must feel as they
look into the eyes of their starving children and know they
don’t have any food to offer them. Few of us can comprehend what
it must feel like to watch your child die in your arms. Hunger
and malnutrition have many causes. Some are economic, some are
political, and others have to do with climate and geography. The
experts tell us that eradicating hunger will be an enormous and
complex undertaking, and that it can’t be achieved overnight.
But a mother holding a starving child can’t wait for long-term
solutions. She needs help now. And that’s where MANA comes in.
MANA – “Mother Administered Nutritive Aid” – is a ready-to-use
therapeutic food, what aid workers refer to as “RUTF.” It’s a
kind of fortified peanut paste that’s been carefully formulated
to provide all of a child’s basic nutritional needs, and it’s
served in a packet that