The aid agency Concern Worldwide piloted a method of giving cash assistance using a mobile phone operator, Safaricom, which runs a money transfer program that allows cash to be sent from one part of a country to another.However, during a drought, delivering food might be the most appropriate way to help people, especially those who live far from markets and thus have limited access to them. Fred Cuny stated that "the chances of saving lives at the outset of a relief operation are greatly reduced when food is imported. By the time it arrives in the country and gets to people, many will have died." U.S. law requires food aid to be purchased at home rather than in the countries where the hungry live; this is inefficient because approximately half of the money spent goes for transport. Cuny further pointed out that "studies of every recent famine have shown that food was available in-country—though not always in the immediate food deficit area" and "even though by local standards the prices are too high for the poor to purchase it, it would usually be cheaper for a donor to buy the hoarded food at the inflated price than to import it from abroad." Food banks and soup kitchens address malnutrition in places where people lack money to buy food. A basic income has been proposed as a way to ensure that everyone has enough money to buy food and other basic needs.
Malnutrition was previously seen as something that exacerbates the problems of diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrhea, but malnutrition actually causes diseases, and can be fatal in its own right. History
Hunger has been a perennial human problem. However, until the early 20th century, there was relatively little awareness of the qualitative aspects of malnutrition. Throughout history, various peoples have known the importance of eating certain foods to prevent symptoms now associated with malnutrition. Yet such knowledge appears to have been repeatedly lost and then re-discovered. For example, the ancient Egyptians reportedly knew the symptoms of scurvy. Much later, in the 14th century, Crusaders sometimes used anti-scurvy measures - for example, ensuring that citrus fruits were planted on Mediterranean islands, for use on sea journeys. However, for several centuries, Europeans appear to have forgotten the importance of these measures. They rediscovered this knowledge in the 18th century, and by the early 19th century, the Royal Navy was issuing frequent rations of lemon juice to every crewman on their ships. This massively reduced scurvy deaths among British sailors, which in turn gave the British a significant advantage in the Napoleonic Wars. Later on in the 19th century, the Royal Navy replaced lemons with limes (unaware at the time that lemons are far more effective at preventing scurvy).According to historian Michael Worboys, malnutrition was essentially discovered, and the science of nutrition established, between World War I and World War II. Advances built on prior works like Casimir Funks 1912 formulisation of the concept of vitamins.