World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Laos has one of the worst chronic malnutrition rates worldwide. Half of the children under 5 living in rural areas are stunted because they do not receive enough of the right nutrients in their diet. Like these girls from Ban Mai village in remote northern Laos more than 300,000 children cannot develop to their full potential.

Malnutrition is particularly severe among smaller ethnic groups who live in remote mountainous areas with limited access to education and health services as well as markets. The Lanten pictured here, one of 49 officially recognised ethnic groups in Laos, struggle with stunting rates of more than 54 percent.

To fight malnutrition, people not only need access to enough food, they also need to understand how to store and prepare this food and how to compose their diet so they can get all the nutrients they need. To increase this awareness, WFP has developed Feeding the Future, a nutrition education initiative teaching mothers and other care-givers about healthy diets. The interactive trainings are tailored to different ethnic groups and use innovative methods and materials such as the “Food Man” poster and puzzle which show that, quite literally, you are what you eat.

While the awareness about healthy nutrition is growing and new dietary habits are being formed, WFP also works to address the needs of children who are currently in the first 1000 days of their life. From the moment of conception and for the first two years of a child’s life, a lack of nutrients can permanently stunt development. Specialised nutrition products such as plumpy’doz can fill this gap and help toddlers grow into healthy and active children and adults.

Under a Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Project starting in 2011, children aged 6-24 months will receive nutrient-rich food to help boost their development.
In 2010, WFP conducted an acceptability study for plumpy’doz, a peanut-based paste used to prevent malnutrition. Children aged from 6 to 24 months participated in the study – and loved the food!
 

From 2011 - 2015, WFP plans to expand this MCHN project to six provinces of Laos. Activities will include village nutrition training, food support to children under 2 and food incentives for pregnant and lactating women to attend health centres. The long-term objective of WFP’s MCHN intervention is to contribute to national efforts to reduce maternal and child malnutrition in Laos.