After the terrible flooding in Pakistan recently, millions of people were displaced from their homes and left without reliable sources of food. The most at risk were children, who often suffer more than anyone during natural disasters like this. Thankfully, an innovative new food product has been developed inside Pakistan that is giving thousands of children the nutrition they need to protect them from hunger and malnutrition. The new food product, a chickpea paste, is currently being provided to children all over Pakistan that have insufficient access to healthy supplies of food. Created by the World Food Programme (WFP), the paste, called Wawa Mum, contains a day's worth of vitamins and nutrients within one small packet, cutting out the need for any extra eating utensils. The advantages of this Wawa Mum paste are that it's super light, can be consumed at any time, and it's made locally in Pakistan from ingredients that people like and are familiar with. All of this adds up to a growing demand for the chickpea paste, with the rise of food and malnutrition emergencies in the region. Dominique Frankefort, Deputy Director of WFP's operations in Pakistan, is aiming to increase production to 500 metric tons per month by June and to 1,000 metric tons by the end of the year. Increased production not only benefits the millions of children suffering from malnutrition in Pakistan, but also the food processing sector, where jobs are being created at an alarming rate during a time of dire need for the country.
- Brock McNairy
SOURCE: World Food Programme
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