Partners in Health Haitian food security program easily 'transplanted' to other areas suffering malnutrition

"It has been said that hundreds of thousands of dollars and equally as many hours have been spent searching for a cure for malnutrition," Gillaine Warne, director of Zanmi Agrikol, the agricultural arm of Partners In Health that operates in Haiti, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog. "The good news is that a cure has been found -- it's called FOOD!," she says, noting Zanmi Agrikol's goal is "getting to the root causes of malnutrition [so] we can help create effective and sustainable change." Warne says even before the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, "one of every three children under five years old suffer[ed] from malnutrition." She continues, "Our programs at Zanmi Agrikol educate farmers about new and proven ways of planting, conservation, reforestation, and animal husbandry. ... We want to enable each family to produce sufficient food for themselves, and enough excess to take to market."

Through Zanmi Agrikol's Family Assistance Program, "we are empowering families to grow their own food, and through their own efforts combat the crisis that so often takes the lives of their children," Warne writes, adding, "Our program gives families tools, seeds, trees, education, and a goat." With "more participation and more funding," "[o]ur programs can be easily 'transplanted' to other communities and areas where children are suffering from malnutrition and lack of food," she states (10/25).