LILONGWE, Malawi — A Malawi-based organization is using a high-calorie, nutrient-rich peanut butter paste to treat malnourished mothers and their babies in countries plagued by poverty and malnutrition. The organization, Project Peanut Butter, currently helps women and babies in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The paste, called chiponde, is part of Dr. Mark Manary’s latest study titled, “Mamachiponde.” With 500-calories, eight grams of protein, vitamins, healthy fats and over 30 essential nutrients and phyto-nutrients per packet, the paste is being tested for its ability to help pregnant adolescents in southern Malawi deliver healthy babies. Dr. Manary is a pediatrician at Washington…
Author: Lillian Sickler
Lillian Sickler
Lillian is from Granby, Massachusetts. She's a Freshman in college at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she writes for The Borgen Project and studies Comparative Literature and Sustainable Food and Farming. She works as a part-time cook and baker at a local farm during the summer as well as at a student-run restaurant during the school year.
SEATTLE — The World Health Organization (WHO) set new guidelines for naming diseases in hopes of minimizing the negative impact that outbreaks have historically had on communities. The spread of infectious disease is just the beginning of the nightmare. The WHO is striving to confront the main axis of what has had damaging effects on people and places stricken with outbreaks. Poorly given names can stigmatize groups of people and places. Historically, diseases have been named arbitrarily despite an official naming system that has always been in place. Many times the scientist that discovers the disease or clinician that experiences…
GRANBY, Massachusetts — Love Without Boundaries assists Chinese orphans with special needs in acquiring proper care and finding permanent homes. Through four programs, each with their own set of significant goals, the nonprofit organization has helped thousands of babies with medical and developmental issues ranging from preemie complications to heart disease. Many such children are initially determined to be ‘un-adoptable.’ It is only after necessary medical procedures and specialized care that they may be given the chance to be placed with an adoptive family. Some operations, such as one to fix a cleft palate, are relatively simple and inexpensive procedures…