Opinion: Guest blogging: Mark Manary
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As part of The Times editorial board’s series on food diplomacy, The Times has invited experts to comment on humanitarian aid. Below is a missive from Mark J. Manary, a doctor and nutrition specialist who is currently in Malawi.
It is Saturday afternoon in Blantyre, Malawi. I am a pediatrician and I have spent all week in rural Machinga running feeding centers and offering mothers high quality foods for their for their young children in an effort to prevent malnutrition. It is refreshing to see people in Los Angeles, where my son lives, wondering what can be done about malnutrition and the global food crisis. I have committed by life to this work, developing better foods and food crops, 23 years in Africa. Let me share the following thoughts.
- The problem of malnutrition is real, and more important today than a decade ago.
- Malnutrition is primarily the result of grinding poverty, rather than civil unrest. When food prices rise, so does malnutrition for those people living on less than $2 a day.
- The immediate crisis is increased child deaths and disabilities, and the immediate solution is feeding children food with more macro and micronutrients. Whether the foods are available locally or an imported, the effect on the child is the same, a better chance to live! Beware of salesmen in this arena, all food that is claimed to be better is not.
- Ready-to-use foods, lipid nutrient supplements are great foods for children. No peasant farmer will pay any heed to improved agriculture unless she also sees efforts to address the present crisis. (When the house is on fire, its no time to talk about flame resistant pajamas).
- The 10-year solution is improved food crops. Advances in technology, breeding and genetically modified crops are powerful tools that should be brought to bear on this problem.
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