Beyond the 'raw' and the 'cooked': a history of fortified blended foods

Tackling child malnutrition in Jamaica, 1962-2020

On the eve of independence in 1962, malnutrition was the largest single cause of death in Jamaica for children under one. Although child malnutrition rates have rapidly declined since 1962, today Jamaica experiences a double burden of malnutrition: the coexistence of pockets of high child malnutrition with rising levels of childhood obesity. Based on a wide range of sources, including public documents, newspaper reports, scientific studies and reports by international agencies, this article examines a gradual decline in child malnutrition and the rise of the double burden of malnutrition in Jamaica from independence to the present. It will first of all show that changes in the global economy and overseas loans and aid both aided and limited the ability of the Jamaican government to lower child malnutrition levels and also contributed to a rise in childhood obesity. Second, it will illustrate that a traditional deficit-led approach to child malnutrition was followed in post-independent Jamaica, focussing on the public and individuals as targets for intervention and using quantitative measures to trace progress. And third, it will question whether the double burden of child malnutrition will give rise to 'healthy publics'-'dynamic collectives of people, ideas and environments that can enable health and well-being'.

Complementary Feeding of Sorghum-Based and Corn-Based Fortified Blended Foods Results in Similar Iron, Vitamin A, and Anthropometric Outcomes in the MFFAPP Tanzania Efficacy Study

BACKGROUND

Fortified blended foods (FBFs) are micronutrient-fortified food aid products containing cereals and pulses. It has been suggested to reformulate FBFs to include whey protein concentrate, use alternative commodities (e.g., sorghum and cowpea), and utilize processing methods such as extrusion to produce them. The Micronutrient Fortified Food Aid Pilot Project (MFFAPP) efficacy study was designed to test the efficacy of complementary feeding of newly formulated FBFs.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of 5 newly formulated FBFs in combating iron deficiency anemia and vitamin A deficiency compared with traditionally prepared corn-soy blend plus (CSB+) and no intervention. A secondary aim was to determine the impact on underweight, stunting, wasting, and middle-upper arm circumference.

METHODS

A 20-wk, partially randomized cluster study was completed. Two age groups (aged 6-23 and 24-53 mo) with hemoglobin status <10.3 g/dL, and weight-for-height z scores >-3 were enrolled and assigned to diet groups. Biochemical and anthropometric measurements were collected at 0, 10, and 20 wk.

RESULTS

Both hemoglobin concentrations and anemia ORs were significantly improved in all intervention groups except for CSB+ and the no-intervention groups at week 20. Only extruded corn-soy blend 14 and the no-intervention age groups failed to significantly decrease vitamin A deficiency risk (P < 0.04). There were no consistent significant differences among groups in anthropometric outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

FBFs reformulated with sorghum, cowpea, corn, and soy significantly improved anemia and vitamin A deficiency ORs compared with week 0 and with no intervention. Although newly formulated FBFs did not significantly improve vitamin A deficiency or anemia compared with CSB+, CSB+ was the only FBF not to significantly improve these outcomes over the study duration. Our findings suggest that newly formulated sorghum- and cowpea-based FBFs are equally efficacious in improving these micronutrient outcomes. However, further FBF refinement is warranted. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02847962.

Rethinking access: how humanitarian technology governance blurs control and care

Surprisingly little attention is paid to the role of digital technology and related forms of data production, storage, processing, and sharing in humanitarian governance. This paper uses Michael Barnett's () conceptualisation of humanitarian governance when arguing for a better accounting of technology in literature on humanitarian governance. Specifically, it proposes a two-fold alertness to governance of (a) the uses of new technology and (b) that which is produced by digital technologies. This elucidates important issues, including that of access to digitalised data collected from humanitarian subjects, with implications for their (in)security. The paper concludes by suggesting that access is no longer 'only' about challenges of gaining access to vulnerable populations, but also about challenges of preventing access to vulnerable digital bodies and their use for aggressive purposes. In short, access and protection acquire a new dimension and analyses of humanitarian governance must be more attentive to the role of digital technology.

Sticky technologies: Plumpy'nut®, emergency feeding and the viscosity of humanitarian design

Inspired by de Laet and Mol's classic article on the Zimbabwean Bush Pump and Peter Redfield's revival of fluidity as a central characteristic of humanitarian design, this paper argues that many humanitarian technologies are characterized not so much by fluidity as by stickiness. Sticky technologies lie somewhere between fluid technologies and Latourian immutable mobiles: They work precisely because they are mobile and not overly adaptable, yet they retain some flexibility by reaching out to shape and be shaped by their users. The concept is introduced through a detailed study of Plumpy'nut^®, a peanut paste for therapeutic feeding that is materially sticky - much firmer than a fluid, yet still mutable - as well as conceptually sticky. 'Stickiness' can have wide utility for thinking through technology and humanitarianism.