Standard Therapies Do Not Work
Tragically, most malnourished Haitian children will never receive treatment. And those who are treated with standard therapies will likely never recover. These older treatments are both ineffective and expensive.
Dry Food Therapies
Dry food therapies, using rice and beans or a fortified corn-soy blend, are not dense enough in essential calories and nutrients. A child’s stomach is so small — and their calorie requirements are so great — that they could never eat enough dry food to recover fully.
Hospitalization
In most developing countries, there are not enough hospital beds or trained staff for the overwhelming number of malnourished children. Further, hospitals require someone — usually the child’s mother — to stay for the full four-week treatment. Since women are usually the economic heart of the family, they put the entire family at risk when they tend to the malnourished child. Thus, these mothers may face a terrible quandary: Which child will live and which will die?
Learn about Haiti's suffering economic climate.
