Facebook Live from Nigeria
Near a row of temporary shelters that shield families from a glaring sun, a WFP aid worker named Samuel stands in front of a line of mothers and their children.
All await a basic but crucial test to determine one thing: Whether their children are malnourished. Samuel reaches toward a young child, rested on the hip of a woman draped in a green head scarf. He positions a simple armband around the child’s left arm to see where the child falls upon a three-color classification: Green, yellow and red.
The reading comes back red. Something is definitely wrong.
“Children are manifesting signs of severe acute malnutrition,” he says, explaining that WFP refers the most vulnerable boys and girls to treatment centers to get urgent care.
For those with less severe forms of malnutrition, WFP provides their parents with satchels of Plumpy’Sup to supplement their everyday food. Plumpy’Sup is special peanut-based nutritional food used in emergency situations to prevent and treat moderate malnutrition for children under five years old.
For the first time, Facebook Live is giving you — our supporters and donors — the opportunity to follow WFP’s work in Nigeria in real-time.
