Blog | Refinery.tv

Browsing posts in: Blog

Jun 8, 2013 |

When hunger was close to home

This blog is one of several published in real time during the live event “nutrition for growth; beating hunger through business and science”. The rest of the blogs can be found by clicking the links at the bottom of the page. Some of those organisations supporting this movement are include The IF campaign, The ONE campaign DFID.

The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, spoke movingly of a time when hunger was close to these shores. The Irish potato famine killed a million people and a further million were displaced from their homes as they tried to avoid the Great Hunger. Kenny talked of women taking their children and struggling one final journey to lie down in church graveyards to ensure they would all receive a christian burial.

Just last week, it was announced that the pathogen responsible for this horror had been identified. A single strain of a fungus known as Phytophthora infestans it is distinct from modern strains.

https://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/05/28/scientists-find-pathogen-behind-irish-potato-famine/#.UbMDlfZATLs

https://elife.elifesciences.org/content/2/e00731

The landscape for hunger may be different in 2013, but this kind of despair still happens. Its may not always be death by starvation that is happening in Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya, but it will be death from other common childhood illnesses that the immune system of a well-nourished child ought to be able to fight off.

All of our interventions, the vaccines, the antibiotics, the rehydration therapy, all work better when the patient is not lacking vital nutrients, so addressing the issue of feeding the close to a billion people worldwide who are undernourished will have a massive k knock-on effect on ending poverty.

FACTS:

Undernutrition is an underlying cause in 45% of deaths amongst children under five, while globally, nearly one in four children under age 5 (some 165 million) are stunted.

Undernutrition costs 11% of the GDP in Africa and Asia.Poverty and undernutrition go hand in hand.

Undernutrition causes STUNTING and WASTING. More on this in the next blog.

Why the time to act is now: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lT

Mark Walport: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lR

Ireland remembers: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lN

Malawi: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

It’s not difficult to make a difference: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

Some bloke called Dave https://wp.me/p3scvU-lr

Unicef’s 1000 Days https://wp.me/p3scvU-lm

Can science end starvation? https://wp.me/p3scvU-lg

Jun 8, 2013 |

0 comments

Malawi – where HALF of the children are stunted

Joyce Banda’s own story is quite incredible. If you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a link to her wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Banda

She is the 4th president of Malawi, and the first female president, but presides over a country with terrible problems of poverty and hunger. Malawi has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.

From SOS https://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/

1 in 5 children in Malawi is malnourished. An under-five mortality rate of 110 per 1,000 is still far too high, despite improvements in recent years*. Up to a million children in Malawi are growing up without one or both parents, 650,000 of the total due to HIV/AIDS.

*by contrast, in England and Wales that figure is just 4 out of 1000, compared to almost 1 in ten babies dying in Malawi.

Joyce Banda wants to “skill up” the nation and improve their ability (especially in rural areas) to make both their ability to grow food and their ability to profit from it, and therefore grow it sustainably in a way that will keep people, fed, in work and healthy. They have already set to work in bringing the infant mortality rate down from the figures quoted above (2006), it is now closer to 80 – 1000.

Why the time to act is now: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lT

Mark Walport: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lR

Ireland remembers: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lN

Malawi: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

It’s not difficult to make a difference: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

Some bloke called Dave https://wp.me/p3scvU-lr

Unicef’s 1000 Days https://wp.me/p3scvU-lm

Can science end starvation? https://wp.me/p3scvU-lg

Tags: beating hunger through business and science body brain breastfeeding business carpe diem children cognitive countries david cameron developed developing development DFID G8 IFcampaign infant lancet malawi malnutrition maternal medical medicine mortality neurology nutrition physical poverty richard horton richardhorton1 science stunted growth stunting summit wasting world

Jun 8, 2013 |

0 comments

Simple measures work….

Under nutrition is responsible for HALF of all child deaths and a THIRD of maternal deaths, says Jamie Cooper Hohn of CIF, the Children’s Investment Fund.

She says sometimes when we try to help, we try to make an immediate difference, and don’t stop to ask what the real questions are of how best to help.

A well nourished child is 30% more likely to be in the correct grade in school. Stunting does not just affect the physical growth, but also neurological development. This is not just a humanitarian, but an economic reality: A 20-45% increase in wages with a 5-10% increase in physical growth.

Whatsmore, stopping hunger isn’t enough. A child can have as much rice or maize as it needs to feel satisfied, but if that child does not have the correct vitamins and minerals then it will still not develop as it should, physically, or neurologically.

We see ample evidence that simple interventions work – BREASTFEEDIN, VIT A, CALCIUM, IRON, PROMOTING HAND-WASHING AND PREVENTING DIAHORRHEA.

Find out more about CIF here

https://ciff.org/about/

And how they are trying to improve child survival

https://ciff.org/priority-impact-areas/child-survival/

A PDF of the executive summary can be viewed HERE

Why the time to act is now: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lT

Mark Walport: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lR

Ireland remembers: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lN

Malawi: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

It’s not difficult to make a difference: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

Some bloke called Dave https://wp.me/p3scvU-lr

Unicef’s 1000 Days https://wp.me/p3scvU-lm

Can science end starvation? https://wp.me/p3scvU-lg

Tags: beating hunger through business and science breastfeeding business calcium carpe diem childrens chris CIFF cooper-hohn countries david cameron developing DFID EU food fortification fortified foundation fund G8 hohn IFcampaign infant investment iron jamie lancet malnutrition maternal medical medicine mortality nutrition pledge poverty richard horton richardhorton1 science summit sweet potato vitA vitamin A world

Jun 8, 2013 |

0 comments

Frank and Mwajuma (and some bloke called Dave)

A heartfelt personal account of what if feels like to be hungry by young Tanzanian’s Frank and Mwajuma.

You can see from the picture that Frank is of slight build. He is small for his age (16) and slenderly built.

You don’t get big and strong he says, without good food. Stunted growth is a real thing. It affects many many people the world over.

The “senior cabinet minister” called to the podium is DAVE!

Mr Cameron is talking about a 165 MILLION children who by the age of 2 have already been so badly malnourished, that they will never achieve their full expected height or weight.

DC says there are 3 questions?

1. Does aid really work?

Yes it does – we are seeing the fastest redcution in poverty in history. Child deaths are down by half and 4 million lives saved by vaccination. That’s a resounding YES, but there are still too many dying. We cannot stop here.

2. Why does the UK always have to be out in front when it comes to aid?

Dave says its because of the way the British people are, and how we respond when we hear of disaster and poverty. It says something about our standing in the world. But its not just about our hearts, its our heads too. If we invest in countries before they get broken, we might not end of dealing with the problems afterwards. We are one of few countries who agree to spend 0.7% on development. If we keep doing this we can help 37 MILLION children. Its less than 1 pence a day for us. Its a good investment.

3. The problems are never solved, why does it just go on and on?

We have earned the right to say we should do things differently. Different in business, different in science. Harvesting power of enterprise and for science, harnessing the power of innovation – see the sweet potato* that has been engineered to provide Vitamin A.

*more on the sweet potato coming soon!

Bye bye Dave!

A PDF of the executive summary can be viewed HERE

Why the time to act is now: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lT

Mark Walport: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lR

Ireland remembers: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lN

Malawi: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

It’s not difficult to make a difference: https://wp.me/p3scvU-lK

Some bloke called Dave https://wp.me/p3scvU-lr

Unicef’s 1000 Days https://wp.me/p3scvU-lm

Can science end starvation? https://wp.me/p3scvU-lg

Tags: beating hunger through business and science breastfeeding business cameron carpe diem countries david david cameron developing DFID G8 growth IFcampaign infant lancet malnutrition maternal medical medicine minister mortality nutrition poverty prime richard horton richardhorton1 science stunted stunting summit tanzania world

Jun 8, 2013 |

0 comments

Unicef’s 1000 days campaign

We’ve all just watched Unicef’s moving animation explaining in devastating fashion why the first 1000 days of a child’s life are critical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZBJTYy2SIk&feature=youtu.be

A critical message here is that breastfed babies in developing countries are more likely to survive.

FROM https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_breastfeeding.html

It was estimated that reaching over 90 per cent of infants with a package of interventions to protect, promote and support optimal infant and young child feeding practices can contribute to reducing overall child mortality by close to one fifth. Optimal breastfeeding practices, especially exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age, has the single greatest potential impact on child survival, with the potential to prevent 1.4 million under-5 deaths in the developing world (Lancet 2008). A further 6 per cent or close six hundred thousand under five deaths can be prevented by ensuring optimal complementary feeding (Lancet 2003).

And yet, THIS