Ending hunger is no easy task – I’m sure if it was the unfortunate problem would have been solved ages ago. However, around the world, countless groups give it their all daily to create a world where everyone has enough to eat.
One of those groups close to home is Action Against Hunger Canada (Action Contre La Faim en Français/ in French) — one of five Action Against Hunger headquarters that supports work to end hunger and malnutrition in over 45 different countries worldwide.
Victoria Sauveplane has been working with Action Against Hunger Canada for over five years. I got a chance to sit down and speak with her at Food For Action, a recent fundraising event held by the humanitarian organization at Toronto’s George Brown College on Adelaide Street.
Victoria tells me that Action Against Hunger Canada is the project convener of the “SMART Methodology Program”, a standardized methodology for assessing and collecting evidence of hunger and malnutrition.
To fix a problem one must understand it.
The evidence and data collected via the SMART Methodology demonstrates the magnitude and severity of a crisis or malnutrition, enabling country governments and other food relief organizations to respond and act accordingly.
One of the tools used on the ground is a simple, flexible measuring band made of shiny plastic. Victoria explains how this tool — known technically as a “mid upper-arm circumference tool“ — is used to diagnose and detect severe cases of malnutrition in children who face a high risk of dying. If a child’s arm is measured in the red of the band serious and fast treatment is necessary.
Action Against Hunger Canada’s Victoria Sauveplane describes how the mid-upper arm circumference tool is used to detect severe cases of malnutrition in children.
“These are the children we want to make sure we are not missing with our interventions,” says Victoria, whose work has brought her to over 20 countries thus far to carry out baseline assessments and train others on the ground.
Action Against Hunger Canada trains community health workers in countries like Guatemala and Kenya to screen children with the arm circumference tool so they can take action as soon as possible for the most at-risk children.
I ask Victoria what happens when a child is on the brink of starvation. She tells me it depends on the country and situation — and that sometimes children need to be hospitalized. “But most of the time the child can be treated in its own home with a series of Plumpy Nut.”
“Plumpy Nut?” I ask.
She explains how Plumpy Nut is a ready-to-use therapeutic food mothers can give to their children at home, meaning its especially helpful — especially when there are other children in the family — since they can stay home. She grabs a metallic-silver square package and hands it to me. It’s squishy. My eyes scan it quickly, and I see that one of the main ingredients is peanuts. I ask the amicable expert beside me if it’s like peanut butter.
Plumpy Nut and the “mid-upper arm circumference tool” - a tool Action Against Hunger uses to detect sever cases of child malnutrition.
“It’s a nutrient-dense paste,” answers Victoria, adding that it is indeed like peanut butter “in its consistency”, but that it’s been fortified with micro- and macro-nutrients to bring children into a healthy state. “It’s a great thing,” she adds with a hopeful grin.
Food For Action was held to raise awareness about the work of Action Against Hunger Canada around the world, as well as the issue of global hunger and malnutrition in general. About 200 people attended the event. The US-based Food For Action recently held a fundraising gala in New York as well, with the legendary Oprah Winfrey in attendance.
For more information about Action Against Hunger Canada, you can visit their website here.
Guests mingle at Food For Action this year.
Guests mingle at Food For Action this year.