Responding to malnutrition around the world. WATCH THE VIDEO.

Dear Friend,

Before I saw her, I heard her. Little Nyilim’s breathing was so fast and raspy, I could hear it from across the hospital above the usual din in our malnutrition unit, often packed with close to 100 children under five years old.

Like so many others we met, Nyilim and her mother had traveled a long way to reach Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) at the hospital in Agok, a contested area between South Sudan and Sudan. When she arrived, she was so malnourished she didn’t have the strength to eat. We gave her nutrients through a feeding tube, but that wasn’t enough.

It turned out she also had tuberculosis. Our team got her the medication she needed. Coupled with malnutrition treatment that included ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a shelf-stable, nutrient-balanced biscuit or peanut butter-like paste, this was a game-changer.

MSF is currently responding to acute malnutrition around the world, including Nigeria, Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Watch the video to learn more about how we use RUTF to provide essential nutrients to severely malnourished children.

RUTF helps severely malnourished children get healthy again. This is the kind of treatment that helped Nyilim recover. After six weeks, she was up and about. Every morning, she would tag along on patient visits as our self-appointed assistant, chatting away, making us laugh. Seeing her go from near death to energetic, funny, and
thriving is the reason I do this work.

Not all stories have a happy ending like Nyilim’s. I hold these stories close, too. They remind me that there is more we can—and must—do. Your support enables us to reach children in need of treatment. The more quickly we reach them, the better their odds of survival.

From Sudan to Nigeria, Gaza to Democratic Republic of Congo, MSF is providing lifesaving treatment, where an alarming number of children are dying from malnutrition.

Learn more about how we’re using RUTF to treat malnourished children.

Sincerely,
Pat Carrick, Family Nurse Practitioner
Former Vice President of the Board of Directors
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières USA

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