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New National Nutrition Survey Results From Haiti

September 4, 2026 The rate of life-threatening, acute (wasting) malnutrition among children in Haiti has grown from 7.2% in 2023 to 9% in 2026, alongside worstening dietary diversity, according to the latest national survey findings which began in January and were just released.

Most of the increase in malnutrition was in the form of moderate wasting malnutrition, from which most preventable deaths occur. Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), through its national food and nutrition coordination unit (UCPNANu), released preliminary results of the 2026 national SMART nutrition survey on August 28. Data were collected from 1 to 16 July 2026 across 18 strata, the nine provincial departments, eight communes of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, and the balance of Ouest department, from a planned sample of 16,176 households in roughly 1,206 clusters, including 105 reserve cluster.

See: https://weshare.unicef.org/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&STID=2AM40870CZ3M&_gl=&WS=SearchResults

Wasting malnutrition was the worst where gangs interfere with health care. The Port-au-Prince metropolitan area records the highest malnutrition rate of any stratum at 8.8 percent, ahead of Artibonite (8.7), Reste-Ouest (7.8), and Grande Anse (7.2). The traditionally food-insecure Nord-Ouest sits at 6.4 percent, while Nord, Sud, and Sud-Est cluster near 3.1 percent the “low” band.

Applied to a population of roughly 1.1 to 1.2 million children aged 6–59 months, a 7.4 percent point prevalence implies on the order of 85,000 children wasted at any moment.

The government’s nutrition report adds that “UNICEF’s Haiti appeal was 87 percent unfunded at the end of the first quarter, and the nutrition sector was funded at 16 percent in 2025. A survey documenting a 45 percent rise in child wasting has landed in a [ongoing aid] response that cannot currently treat the [full] caseload it already knows about.”

Within the metropolitan area the gradient is steep and tracks territorial control almost exactly. Cité Soleil (gang-controlled) has 11.4 percent malnutrition, the only zone in the country in the UN’s “high” category, with moderate malnutrition alone at 10.5 percent. Delmas follows at 9.6, Port-au-Prince commune at 8.8, Croix-des-Bouquets at 8.7, Carrefour at 8.0; Kenscoff records 3.4.

Early initiation of breastfeeding rose from 48 to 68 percent, and exclusive breastfeeding under six months nearly doubled, from 17.5 to 33 percent.

UNICEF’s latest brief about their work in Haiti reports: “To ensure the continuity of nutrition services despite ongoing humanitarian and logistical challenges, UNICEF supported the prepositioning of 34,222 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) including those sourced by local partner Meds and Foods for Kids (MFK) and essential medicines across the country’s ten Supply and Input Distribution Centers, followed by their onward distribution to health facilities to prevent stockouts. Of this total, 19,909 cartons were strategically pre-positioned in priority locations across the country based on humanitarian and climate-related risks, while the remaining quantities were retained to support ongoing supply needs and replenishment efforts.
“As part of preparedness, risk mitigation, and response efforts, 9,750 cartons were strategically pre-positioned in the departments of Ouest, Artibonite, and Centre, which continue to face significant access constraints and humanitarian needs due to insecurity. In parallel, 10,159 cartons were pre-positioned across the four
departments of the Grand Sud (Grand’Anse, Nippes, Sud and Sud-Est) and the Northwest department in preparation for the hurricane season.”

– Contributed by WHES Board member Steve Hansch

Update about Hunger & War in Iran

July 26, 2026 By Stephen Sellers What began as a single day of strikes on February 28, 2026 has become one of the longest and costliest U.S. military engagements in decades, and the humanitarian toll on Iran’s youngest children has deepened rather than resolved. Nearly five months on, the threat to child nutrition described in our initial briefing has moved from a fear we anticipated to documented reality, compounded by a currency collapse, a leadership crisis, and a war whose ceasefire has repeatedly failed to hold.

Hunger Notes reported large-scale population displacements in February. Most of 3.2 million Iranians who were displaced have returned home. A residual caseload of displaced remains from destroyed housing: 149,528 civilian units damaged (according to the Iranian Red Crescent, in June); ~400,000 people had homes directly affected. Only ~9,000 were still in tracked shelters in June.

Iran’s safety net appears to be effective at reaching vulnerable children, and preventing rates of wasting from increasing. The Iranian Welfare Ministry food-basket program, Phase 34 (17–18 July 2026), which provides the most recent concrete figure, identifies 180,826 malnourished children aged 5–59 months who are enrolled for subsidized food baskets (152,788 in “very needy” households + 28,038 “moderate need”).

Malnutrition is worsening in the provinces Hunger Notes flagged as most vulnerable

Sistan-Baluchestan, which was named in our February briefing as an already-strained border province, remains the hardest hit by hunger. Up to one-third of children under five in the province now face severe malnutrition. Many families subsist on little more than bread and tea, and the loss of free school meal programs has left some students too depleted to concentrate in class or attend at all. Nationally, child stunting continues to concentrate in Sistan-Baluchestan, Kerman, and Hormozgan, alongside a parallel crisis of; roughly 30% of pregnant women are failing to gain sufficient weight during pregnancy.

The war has not ended — it has cycled through ceasefires that collapsed

After more than five weeks of fighting, the United States and Iran agreed on April 7–8 to a ceasefire that also encompassed Israel. U.S. President Trump extended it indefinitely on April 21, but both sides violated it almost immediately. A June memorandum of understanding sought to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and formally end the war within 60 days. Instead, fighting resumed in July after Iran struck three commercial vessels that had bypassed its pre-approved shipping route. By mid-July, the U.S. President had declared the ceasefire over following a new round of strikes after Tehran targeted vessels in the strait, and as of July 18 there was no sign the renewed fighting would end soon; a week of intensified strikes had left the ceasefire in tatters. Adding to the instability, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed and buried after marathon funeral ceremonies. His son and successor, Mojtaba, has not appeared publicly since taking over leadership.

Overall food production is up this year, or near average according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The Government is purchasing large amounts of wheat, but remains constrained in being able to pay farmers. Iran has imported 22 Metric Tons of food, with Russia as the main source.

Iran’s food supply (production plus imports) has recovered over the six months, while household food security has deteriorated sharply due to inflation and the collapsing value of the Iranian currency, the rial.

A collapsing currency has turned food into a luxury for many

The economic backdrop against which malnutrition is now unfolding is far worse than in February. Iran’s currency, the rial, approached 1.95 million to the dollar on July 20 down in value by roughly a third since January,with the IMF projecting nearly 69% average inflation and a contracting economy for 2026, leaving the official minimum wage worth only about $87 a month. Iran has not published GDP data since 2024, and a nationwide internet blackout has made even the country’s own statistics hard to verify from outside.

Food prices have increased 140% year-on-year, with flour up 170% and rice up 220%. One dollar bought roughly 1,350,500 rials on January 1; by July 20 it bought nearly 1.9 million. This means a household purchasing-power collapse layered directly on top of the wartime disruption to food imports described in our original briefing.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is squeezing food and fertilizer supply chains region-wide

More than 90% of Iran’s annual trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait’s effective closure, combined with a subsequent U.S. blockade, has cut off up to 70% of Iran’s export revenue. The damage is not confined to Iran. Since the end of February, roughly 3.9 million tons of fertilizer exports, about 30% of the Gulf states’ annual fertilizer trade, have been suspended, and shortage risk keeps rising the longer the strait stays closed. The war continues to choke deliveries of fuel, fertilizer, medicine, and aid shipments transiting the Middle East, forcing the World Food Program and Save the Children to reroute aid around restricted waterways, adding weeks of delay and millions of dollars in cost.

The war’s humanitarian shockwaves have reached far beyond Iran’s borders

Perhaps the starkest change since February is how far the malnutrition impact has traveled. This past March, Hunger Notes projected that increases in fertilizer prices would result in reduced food production worldwide, and resulting hunger.

Save the Children, the nonprofit, projects that every $5 rise in oil prices tied to the conflict wipes out a month’s worth of life-saving humanitarian aid for nearly 40,000 children. . In Nigeria, children who had recovered from malnutrition are relapsing: hospital records in Sokoto show nearly 40 children previously treated since February back under treatment, with many more undocumented, as families lose income to war-driven fuel price increases. Hunger Notes, UNICEF, Reuters, and the Financial Times have warned that a continued war will likely push up to 23.4 million additional children worldwide into monetary poverty by year’s end.

What has changed, and what hasn’t

The core vulnerabilities identified in February include Iran’s large under-five population, pre-existing pockets of wasting and stunting concentrated in Sistan-Baluchestan and other border provinces, a food supply chain dependent on imports now vulnerable to blockade, and a government historically wary of Western humanitarian NGOs — have all held true and intensified. What has changed is the scale and duration: a war many observers once expected to last days or weeks instead approaches its fifth month with no durable ceasefire, a currency in freefall, a change in the country’s top leadership, and malnutrition effects now documented as far away as Nigeria and Somalia. Without a lasting cessation of hostilities and a functioning channel for food and medical imports, the compounding crisis facing Iran’s youngest children, and the children of countries dependent on the same shipping lanes and aid budgets, shows no sign of leveling off.

Humanitarian aid to Iran is relatively small. Domestic organizations, such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society, provide most aid. In April 2026, the ICRC delivered more than 170 tons of relief supplies, followed by another 18-ton shipment in June, UNICEF continues to provide child health, nutrition, vaccines and hygiene.

Further Reading:

FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System

World Food Programme

U.S. Food Aid (Part 8): Nawiri in Arid Lands of Kenya

July 24, 2026 This is the eighth Hunger Notes article about Food for Peace programs to help inform the public and USDA about lessons learned during past decades about the design and evolution of US food aid, intended to inform USDA which has an outstanding request for information.

Nawiri was the most recent Food for Peace program for Kenya, with about $200 million to different NGOs, led by two groups, Catholic Relief Services and Mercy Corps, covering drought-prone arid lands with mixed pastoral and agricultural economies. The CRS consortium included Caritas, Tufts University, IBTCI, Concern, Village Enterpris e and Kenyatta University and worked in Isiola and Marsabit counties, while Mercy Corps worked in Samburu and Turkana counties, with Research Triangle Institute, AVSI, Viamo, Caritas and the African Population and Health Research Center. Together these teams reached some 550,000 people.

Program metrics showed that Nawiri achieved substantial positive impacts but the benefits were often uneven, context-dependent, and constrained by severe environmental shocks. The implementing agencies found that acute (wasting) malnutrition varies significantly between neighboring wards, across different seasons, and over time, meaning that generalized regional approaches are often ineffective. Also, screening methods like mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) behave differently across seasons, sex, and age groups. Relying solely on MUAC can delay the identification of malnourished children; employing both metrics is necessary to accurately capture different characteristics and stages of malnutrition. Not surprisingly, they found that dry climate correlated with worse malnutrition.

NGO evidence generally showed that where their interventions were concentrated, malnutrition measurably fell. During the period of study, wasting malnutrition declined by over 20% in target areas, though it increased 40% in Turkana. Furthermore, longitudinal studies noted that stunting (long-term malnutrition) increased significantly over time for the sample as a whole, particularly in Laisamis.

Increased systematic screening and referral of malnourished children to health posts were an important reason for those declines seen in wasting. In the Turkana, Nawiri equipped 210 community health volunteers in 4 communities with dosage carts, pneumonia beads, and malaria test kits. Concern piloted an integrated health intervention that added malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea case management with existing integrated-management of acute malnutrition.

Some 57 water systems were rehabilitated, important in a dry lands, and Nawiri fostered 35 local “Water Use Associations” for ongoing improvements for tanks, pipes and water points. Crops were expanded with irrigation: sorghum, maize, watermelon, green grams, fodder. A 7 km canal was desilted.

“The primary pathway between water insecurity and malnutrition in the arid lands of Kenya is women’s time burden collecting water to meet the minimum drinking and hygiene needs of the household. Water collection is performed exclusively by women and girls and remains one of the pervasively gender inequitable elements of pastoral life. Nawiri aims to address the role of water system functionality through borehole rehabilitation.”

The project found that traditional pastoralist strategic mobility and social institutions (like sharing milk, food, and childcare) are the frontline of disaster response and foundational to community resilience. Nawiri helped establish retail shops (dukas) in remote areas to stock better varieties of nutritious foods, bringing vibrant markets to communities that previously had to travel up to 7 kilometers for basic goods. Nawiri promoted livestock health and livestock disease surveillance.

Applying the graduation model, some 500 households in 14 villages graduated with Village Enterprise assistance. In The Isiolo pilot (600 households) launched 204 businesses and 20 savings groups; Food Consumption Score rose from 51.3% to 83.8% in 3.5 months and children (6–23 mo) meeting minimum acceptable diet rose from 6.38% to 31.65%.

The Double-Edged Sword of Diversification: While livelihood diversification provides alternative income, it can act as a maladaptive coping mechanism if it forces women into labor-intensive, low-return activities,. The program observed that as women spent more time on business activities, time spent on childcare decreased, which in some zones led to reduced breastfeeding and higher acute malnutrition. While the drought pushed communities to diversify away from livestock, weak local economies meant many new businesses sold the same basic goods (like sugar and flour), fast-tracking local market saturation

Under CRS, 207 teenagers graduated the “Nawiri na Ujuzi” course (tailoring, masonry, plumbing, electrical, mechanics, driving), which was jointly funded by Nawiri and the County Government of Isiolo. CRS Deputy COP Margaret Kahiga notes all beneficiaries come from households with under-five children facing malnutrition. In a separate area, a randomized controlled tiral conducted with the Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) in Samburu revealed a limitation to these economic benefits: if market saturation crossed a certain tipping point (over 60% enrollment in a specific locality), the income impact for individual businesses could reduce over time as businesses competed against one another

Resilience was highly dependent on informal safety nets, asset ownership, and access to savings. The program emphasized layered, sequenced interventions (e.g., combining water with agriculture, nutrition education, and markets) and local ownership, leading to better resilience against shocks like drought. The partner county governments agreed to sustaining gains post-closeout, including asset handovers and policy integration. The NGOs also observed a chronic deficiency in prioritizing and budgeting of government resources for nutrition, and political leaders frequently lack awareness of the importance of multisectoral nutrition approaches.

Much of Nawiri intentionally focused on formative research and theory-of-change-analysis during the first two years. The Feinstein International Center at Tufts University managed a longitudinal study (bimonthly surveys) in four sentinel sites. Tufts found that few individual/household variables predict malnutrition, whereas basic structural drivers (pastoralism under pressure, climate variability, weakening customary institutions) dominate. Mercy Corps’ review of longitudinal data found that wasting malnutrition had persistently been above 15% for three decades, without improvement.

Notably, DOGE terminated the CRS program, despite positive progress and investments, because DOGE’s simplistic word search through the fun. ding agreement found politically-offensive words, like “gender”, and “climate.” Because Nawiri was terminated early, a full, independent endline evaluation of final impact may be incomplete.

– Contributed by WHES board member, Steven Hansch

Water Insecurity and Malnutrition: An Overlooked Connection

June 24, 2026 by Kirsten Roe Often, when people think of hunger or food insecurity, they may think about food availability (e.g., sufficient food), access (e.g., able to afford food or access it in the market), and nutrition (e.g., sufficient nutrients to prevent stunting, wasting, or obesity), as described by the 1996 World Food Summit. However, researchers and international development practitioners are learning that water security might be essential to food security and prevent malnutrition

A June 2026 paper in Nature Food found that people who lack safe drinking water are significantly more likely to experience food insecurity and food safety concerns (Bruine de Bruin et al., 2026). Drawing on data from 121 countries, the study demonstrates that water insecurity and food insecurity are deeply interconnected global challenges. While that conclusion may seem obvious when talking about more poor areas, the findings showed that even richer countries show a strong relationship between water and food insecurity. The study found that insufficient access to clean drinking water is also associated with having inadequate food, more food safety risks, and challenges with nutrition. This means that reducing hunger requires not only improving food access or availability but also ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. There are several key interactions between water and food security. The first seems the most obvious: humans need water to grow crops through irrigation and livestock, thus providing food security. To produce sufficient food, people need reliable sources of water or the ability to store or use it efficiently through irrigation. Fruits and vegetables as well as livestock require more water compared to cereals and legumes. However, it is important that the water is also safe, since contaminated water can leave bacteria on crop surfaces and cause food poisoning as well as harming livestock. Even contaminants like heavy metals can be transferred through crops and livestock to those who consume them. With insufficient water for food production, there is both a total reduction in food produced, and a reduction of limited water needed for crop diversity.

Second, contaminated water can affect human nutrition by causing water-borne illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, and parasites. Excessive diarrhea and vomiting can lead to short-term malnutrition due to not being able to keep food or water down while losing electrolytes and energy. It can also lead to long-term or chronic malnutrition through permanent damage to and inflammation of the intestines, causing a disorder called Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (EED). Children may eat enough calories and nutrients but may not be able to absorb them due to the damaged intestines. Repeated episodes of diarrheal disease, especially of children under the age of 5, can contribute to stunting, permanent nutritional imbalance, and impaired cognitive development (Gizaw, Yalew, and Bitew; 2022). A study in 2025 demonstrated that children drinking contaminated water had 3.3X higher risk of experiencing stunting compared to those drinking safe water (when comparing water that would be classified as unsafe based on the number of bacteria present) (Nugraheni et al. 2025). It is a vicious cycle: diarrheal episodes lead to insufficient nutrition, then intestinal damage, reduced appetite, and weaker immune systems, which can lead to more diarrheal episodes.

Third, safe water is essential for food preparation, both for cooking and hygiene. Water is necessary for many forms of cooking, but it is vital to have safe water to wash produce, cook meals, prepare infant foods, and eat meals with clean hands. Otherwise, there is an increase in disease risk. Even simple things like sanitizing toys and floors, ensuring animal waste does not get into the house, having animals remain outside the home, having concrete floors, and having suitable latrines and handwashing stations with soap can reduce diarrheal episodes. One study found that these actions can reduce diarrheal episodes and EED incidence and/or lead to linear child growth increases (Budge et al. 2019). While combined WASH plus nutrition-specific interventions (such as IYCF, complementary feeding, etc.) show even more promise.

Fourth, older children and adults also endure effects from unsafe water. Sick adults may be weakened and unable to function for a period of time which can affect their own food security but also preventing care for young children such as farming or cooking. An indirect result occurs when adults get sick from contaminated water and are unable to work to earn money to purchase food Additionally, when someone is sick in the family, they may have to spend their income on health care, rather than being able to use funds for purchasing food or inputs for a farm.

In conclusion, increasing food availability or access may not be able to solve food insecurity or malnutrition on its own. As the figure shows, water and food insecurity can and should not be treated separately. Instead, international development practitioners should begin looking at integrated programs that combine water and food security.

Interview: Edesia’s Maria Kasparian & Specialty Nutrition Foods

April 20, 2026 The WHES board met with and interviewed Maria Kasparian, expert about Plumpy’Nut which has become one of the most recognizable tools in the fight against severe acute malnutrition among young children around the world. Plumpy’Nut is one brand of the broader food type called “Ready to Use Therapeutic Food”, or “RUTF.” RUTFs have been a key topic in recent articles in Hunger Notes; nonprofits have used RUTFs in the Sudan, Gaza, Haiti, Afghanistan and in other countries in need.

In the United States, one of the leading producers is Edesia, the Rhode Island–based nonprofit that manufactures Plumpy’Nut and related products for UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and NGO partners, while also participating in a wider global network of therapeutic food producers.
Following are selections from WHES’ interview with Ms. Maria Kasparian, Edesia’s Executive Director in 2023, about Edesia and now head of Strategic Partnerships. The interview highlights several of these trends: rising interest in alternative formulations using ingredients such as soy, corn, chickpea, or millet; debate over procurement rules; the slow pace of agency adoption; and growing recognition that the challenge is not only making therapeutic food, but also building efficient supply chains that can deliver it where children need it most.

WHES: Thank you so much for taking time out to talk with us today. What should our readers know about Edesia?

Kasparian: One of Edesia’s mandates is to educate and advocate global nutrition. We have school field trips, work with senators, channel our programming through Scouting America, and we do advocacy work in DC.
We produce in the US, taking with PL 480 (Food Aid) funds. We are producing 1.2 million packets of Plumpy’Nut each day. Edesia has had a ticker of how many children that our products have reached since we started producing in March 2010 – and distributing through partners. Today we are at 19.9 M children reached with full treatments. Our goal is to reach a total of at least 10 M more children within 2023 and 2024.

We’re also part of the “PlumpyField network” of partners in ten partners, spanning Madagascar, India, and other countries. We work to help these producers in other countries, such as Ethiopia and Haiti. For instance, we support Meds and Foods for Kids in Haiti. There are now 22 producers worldwide of RUTF, and each uses slightly different formulations.

WHES: Do all the producers of Ready to Use foods follow the same formulae?

Kasparian: Across the 22 suppliers of foods, there are no two formulas that are identical. But as long as we meet the robust recommendation, we’re okay.
Even within the PlumpyField Network, there are tweaks. There are differences, depending on what’s available locally. For example, you have to achieve certain omega-3 to omega-6 balance with the fats. You need to do that. The vegetable oils are important. You can get different kinds of vegetable oils depending where you are. There might be some variety there. You might have different forms of milk powder available. You might have different forms of whey available that have different amounts of protein. You’ve got to balance the formulas, depending on what ingredients you have available. But they’re very similar. We’ve actually done taste tests where we meet and have everybody’s and we blindly try to guess whose is who. So, they’re a little different, but the difference is small. But the formulations do vary a little bit. There will be a greater degree of difference with those outside the network formulations are.

WHES: Thank you. So, how do donors specify what they want or accept new ideas for specialty foods to address malnutrition?

Kasparian: Well, the Interagency oversight group (UNICEF and WFP) have discussed for many years, having a common standard. It’s the long game. Over time, things do get accepted. Governments and the U.N. don’t move quickly. So generally, though, progress does happen. It just happens slowly. You keep pushing, and over time, things do improve. So you must continue innovating.
The Tufts Food Aid Quality Review study comparing the effectiveness of different foods looked at RUTF (compared Corn Soy Blend or CSB+ with fortified vegetable oil (CSB+ w/oil), Corn soy whey blend (CSWB) with fortified vegetable oil (CSWB w/oil), and Super Cereal Plus with amylase (SC+A)) for the treatment of moderate malnutrition. The cost-effectiveness was similar between the products, and caregivers had a slightly lower of their own opportunity costs when using RUTF. The main conclusion was that NGOs/programmers should pick the products that would be most appropriate for their contexts.

WHES: Is it only about the formula of the food composition?

Kasparian: The ecosystem is not only about making RUTF, but also about improving the supply chain. Customs fees for incoming fees mean that local production is not necessarily cheaper. You know, it’s cheaper to get our foods from here to South Sudan than it is from Khartoum to South Sudan. As well, we’re shipping a lot to Somalia right now.

WHES: Has demand grown for your RUTF?

Kasparian: We have doubled the numbers of kids getting treatment. Most of it goes to Africa, over 70%. Our main goal is to reach more kids. The price of RUTF was going down significantly before the Covid-19 pandemic. As background, 70% is the cost of the ingredients. In 2005 a box of RUTF cost $55 but we brought that down to $35 a box in 2019.

WHES: How is it working with UNICEF and WFP?

Kasparian: One of the barriers we face is the way that Unicef and WFP work together. They work differently and in different places.

WHES: How do you relate to other producers in other countries?

Kasparian: We are a U.S.-based producer. We’re a non-profit U.S.-based producer, and that we care a lot about having a good balance of what’s coming from the U.S. and what is coming from local and regional procurers, and that balance is really important. And we do various things to support these
suppliers in other countries. We work particularly closely with Meds and Food for Kids in Haiti. We help them with their formulations. We just help them to get their codex, upgraded codex specification in order. We help them with procurement of raw materials. We help them troubleshoot from a maintenance engineering perspective.

WHES: Edesia has a history going back to Tanzania, right?

Kasparian: Yes. Before we set up a factory in the U.S., we established one in Tanzania, which, unfortunately, is no longer operational, but was, for about five years. Thus, our experience kind of went that way. Our founder, Navyn Salem, has family roots in Tanzania. Her father and three generations of the family are Indians who lived in Tanzania for a period of time. Ms. Salem’s father was born and raised in Tanzania before he came to the U.S. on a USAID scholarship for college. This leads me to another interesting part of the story: USAID is really responsible for Edesia’s existence. Her father, and therefore she, would not be in the U.S. if not for USAID. The U.S. factory, Edesia, was an afterthought to Tanzania because, at the time, USAID’s Food for Peace, was looking to have RUTF and RUSF suppliers in the U.S. because they wanted to be able to use the Title II PL-480 funds for nutrition-specific commodities like RUTF, RUSF. Which, at the time, this is 2008, 2009, at the time, no one was making in the U.S. And there was a push to improve the food aid basket of what was coming out of the U.S. And to take more vulnerable groups into account and to add these nutrition-specific commodities. So, they kind of approached us and others to say, hey, can you do this in the U.S.?

WHES: Do you engage much with the public here in the U.S.?

Kasparian: Our factory doors are open. We have school field trips come through. We have senators and congresspeople whenever we can. We have Scouting America, Rotary Clubs, and the like. And then we also do advocacy work in D.C. around global nutrition.

India’s Conquest of Famine

April 19, 2026 India’s growth from food dependence to food surplus is one of the most important development stories of the last half century. At its heart was the science of agricultural research.

Following Paul Ehrlich’s passing away, there have been many articles about the change that have occurred since his publication of the Population Bomb, where he warned about trends in risk of famine in India. Indeed, one of the greatest stories in human history of overcoming food insecurity and famine has been India over the last 50 years. Not only has India grown in terms of food production, but it has diversified its economy, built infrastructure, and increased its GNP, which also supports improvements in long-term resilience. In the 1990s, India turned away the food assistance provided in large quantities by the US Government’s Food for Peace, and India became itself a food aid donor to other countries.

In the late 1960s, India began intensively experimenting with ways to improve yields of key food crops, particularly wheat. A few Indian scientists played an historic, important role in feeding this country which today has more people than any other. The most important was M.S. Swaminathan, an unassuming man who, in his own gentle way, revolutionized India’s agricultural sector.

Swaminathan started out in 1947 working on plant breeding at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. Swaminathan collaborated with US plant breeder Norman Borlaug touring India, breeding Mexican wheat with Japanese varieties. This new crop produced high yields of good quality. In 1964 he earned funds to plant demonstration plots which convinced Indian farmers to experiment with its use. Further experimentation led to wheat varieties which by 1968 increased wheat production to 17 million tons.

Swaminathan’s lifelong commitment to transparency pushed him to establish various systems of accountability of the institutions he headed; therefore, he placed the entire international rice collection under the supervision of an international rice board even though it was already a part of IRRI. Swaminathan never tired of crediting that the seeds of the green revolution in India were actually sown far back in 1949 in the fields of the Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack, India long before Norman Borlaug came to India. Working with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, he established a commission for plant-based genetic resources to address issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture. This included plants, animals, and aquatic organisms. The commission’s focus was on the management of biodiversity. In the 1980s, Swaminathan led, as Director General, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Here he shone as a brilliant and dedicated scientist, an excellent leader, and kind-hearted. Despite occasional setbacks, he persevered in promoting international cooperation in the utilization and conservation of genetic resources. His vision extended beyond yield per hectare. He was a prophet of sustainability long before it became a buzzword of the 21st century. From championing greater participation of women in agriculture to espousing ecological balance, from advancing research in Russian attics to promoting sustainable coastal farming, from advocating for tribal food security to establishing gene banks for endangered crops, his canvas was vast, and his brush precise. Swami Nathan was generous and humane, embodying the best and noblest of the India into which he was born and by which he was shaped.

As shown in the graph at right, food production in India has more than kept pace with population growth due to ongoing improvements in applications of scientific methods. In these same last fifty years, India’s population hasalmost tripled, from 520,000,000 to about 1.5 billion today.

India’s agricultural geography has shifted from a northwest “Green Revolution core” (1970s) to a much more broad-based and increasingly central/eastern growth pattern (last decade). In the 1970s, increases in production were largely in the Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh. More recently, Indian States with the strongest increases in food production:

- * Madhya Pradesh – often cited as India’s fastest-growing agricultural state in the 2010s
- * Chhattisgarh – rapid expansion in rice production and procurement
- * Jharkhand – gains from irrigation and diversification
- * Bihar & Eastern Uttar Pradesh – improvements in rice, maize, and horticulture.

The elimination of famine has not meant that there is no malnutrition in India. Fifty years ago half of children were stunted (low height per age) from undernutrition, while today 1 in three are.

Meanwhile, rate of wasting malnutrition (as measured by weight for height) has remained stubbornly high over the last 50% years, by many estimates stuck in the range of 17-18%.

The government’s most current estimate for the national prevalence of wasting (low weight for height) among children under five in India for 2025 is estimated the 5.4% though estimates from prior years are closer to 18% among children. Wasting malnutrition also varies across different areas. For instance, the Union Territory of Lakshadweep reported the highest wasting rate at 11.6%, followed by Bihar (9.31%) and Madhya Pradesh (8.2%).

Much of the growth of production in India has been facilitated by increases in application of synthetic fertilizers. This is relevant today because, as reported yesterday, India’s food economy is seriously dependent upon fertilizers from the Middle East that are now blockaded and will be increasingly expensive, which may challenge food production in India this year.

Read more: M.S. Swaminathan in conversation with Nitya Rao: The Ethics and Politics of Science, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Centre for Research on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, 2014.

Charles C. Mann, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 2018).

Priyambada Jayakumar, M S Swaminathan: The Man Who Fed India, HarperCollins India, September 10, 2025

Threat of Child Malnutrition in Iran Amid U.S.–Iran Conflict

February 28, 2026 The U.S.–Iran war that began today, 28 February 2026, threatens to sharply worsen malnutrition among children under five in low-income urban neighborhoods of strike zones (Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah) and in rural border provinces (e.g., Sistan-Baluchestan and Kurdistan) that already experience high malnutrition rates.

Iran, with a total population of 93 million people, has 7 ½ million children under five years of age, which is more children than Germany, the UK, Canada, Iraq, Syria, Italy, Turkey, or France.

Over the last few decades the occurrence of childhood stunting (a form of long-term malnutrition) and of wasting (short-term) malnutrition have declined in Iran, reflected by the government’s attention to treating malnutrition. However, studies in southern Iran from 2018 to 2023 show a significant increase in underweight and wasting among young children, with the annual % change of severe wasting increasing by 8.9%. Nationally, the rate of wasting has averaged 4.2%, which is medium for regional and peer countries. Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) manages child malnutrition programs through primary healthcare centers, hospitals, and nutrition initiatives. Treatment follows protocols similar to WHO/UNICEF guidelines for community-based management of acute malnutrition, which emphasize outpatient therapeutic care using Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for severe malnutrition.

The most widespread micronutrient deficiency diseases in Iran include vitamin D (rickets), iron (anemia), vitamin A, and zinc deficiency. Iran addresses these through national programs (e.g., supplementation, fortification of foods like flour with iron/folate, salt iodization, and targeted UNICEF-supported interventions in high-risk provinces), but challenges persist due to economic factors, dietary habits, and regional disparities.

Even before the current war threats, Iran’s food economy was struggling under the weight of international sanctions and mismanagement. The conflict will further reduce Iranian families’ ability to afford food. In fact, the protests that broke out in December 2025 were in part over increased food prices after the rial plunged against the U.S. dollar. There has been criticism by Iranians that their government has failed to present a clear emergency response plan, leaving citizens to fend for themselves.

Iran produces much of its own wheat, dates, barley, rice, pistachios, walnuts, citrus fruits, and saffron. It imports rice, cooking oils, soybeans, sugar, tea, and dairy. The fighting will disrupt Iran’s ability to import food commodities, tightening supply. Agricultural supply chains, transportation networks, storage facilities, and water infrastructure are all vulnerable. Damaged roads and ports will impede food distribution across the country.

Urban bombardment now underway in Tehran and other major cities will displace families. Reuters today reports that Iranians have fled cities in search of safety, rushed to stock up on food, and formed long queues at fuel stations as attacks by the United States and Israel spread fear and panic throughout the country. Iranian government messages have explicitly encouraged people to leave Tehran and other targeted cities to avoid attacks. This kind of internal displacement typically leads to overcrowded towns, strain on services, and informal settlements on the periphery of safer cities.

Internally displaced populations lose access to stable food sources, income, and caregiving routines. Young children are disproportionately harmed by the disruption of feeding practices and by unhygienic displacement conditions that compound malnutrition with infectious disease.

Iran is known as a country that takes care of refugees. Estimates vary, but UNHCR and other agencies report roughly some 3.8 million refugees and people in refugee-like situations in Iran as of 2025, overwhelmingly from Afghanistan and a smaller number from Iraq and other countries.

Iran has been prone to disasters due to large earthquakes and famines. As well, in February 1972, a week-long series of storms brought up to 26 feet (8 meters) of snow in rural areas of western Iran which buried over 200 villages, killing thousands.

Iran also suffered severe famines in 1870-72 and during the First and Second World Wars. The most recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization report about Iran (November 2025) notes that persistent dry weather has hampered winter wheat plantings, leading to an estimated cereal production nearly 10% below the five-year average in 2025. It found that wheat prices in Tehran had risen 50% and rice prices had tripled, compared to the previous year.

Iran has a fairly extensive domestic social protection system by regional standards, though it has faced significant strains in recent years. The Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC) is one of the largest non-governmental charitable organizations in the world by some measures. It operates under government supervision and provides cash transfers, food assistance, healthcare subsidies, and vocational training to millions of low-income Iranians. It draws on religious endowments (waqf) and public donations alongside state funding. The State Welfare Organization (SWO) handles a broader range of social services including disability support, elderly care, and assistance for vulnerable families.

International aid agencies help Iran in disasters, including the Red Cross. The national Red Crescent society of Iran, part of the global IFRC network, has deep roots in domestic disaster relief, rescue, and healthcare operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been working in Iran since the late 1970s. The ICRC provides humanitarian services related to conflict-affected populations, health, and protection.

Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors without Borders) has been operating health programs in Iran. Many other international NGOs have been hesitant to work in Iran, where the government distrusts Western organizations. An exception has been Relief International (RI), which was founded in 1990 following the catastrophic Manjil–Rudbar earthquake in northern Iran.

The convergence of active conflict, pre-existing economic strain, and disrupted supply chains creates a compounding crisis for Iran’s most vulnerable — particularly children under five. International humanitarian organizations face their own obstacles operating in Iran, given longstanding government suspicion of Western NGOs. The children most at risk — those in strike zones like Tehran and Isfahan, and those in already-malnourished border provinces like Sistan-Baluchestan — are precisely the populations least able to weather further disruption to food access, clean water, and caregiving. Without rapid and coordinated humanitarian response, the malnutrition crisis that predates this conflict will deepen sharply, with consequences that will outlast the fighting itself.