Source: Save The Children
S.A.M. Ever heard of it?
It’s silent. Deadly. A child killer. It blurs your vision. Makes your stomach rumble and ache before it shrinks and goes silent. Your ribs start to jut out, your skin becomes loose and dry and starts to peel. Or your belly, feet and ankles become swollen and your skin shiny. Your muscles start to break down and then waste away. Your hair becomes brittle and thin. You lose your appetite. Become dehydrated. Exhaustion creeps over you, leaving you slow and clumsy – eventually unable to move.
S.A.M. the teddy bear is showing signs of severe acute malnutrition including blurred vision, muscle wasting, and organ damage.
S.A.M. stands for severe acute malnutrition.
Right now it is threatening the lives of 13.6 million children under the age of five around the world. 1.7 million of these children are in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
This is the worst global food crisis in decades and it’s putting millions of children’s lives on the line. The combined impact of conflict, climate change, COVID-19, and the cost of rising food prices due to the conflict in the Ukraine crisis has left up to 750,000 people facing famine conditions. A further 49 million people could soon follow unless they receive immediate support. Failure to act now will prove catastrophic and could cost thousands of lives.
But for many, the treatment for S.A.M can be devastatingly simple. An 8-week course of high-nutrient peanut paste that costs just £40.
The S.A.M stopper. 500 calories of this high nutrient paste can provide a simple treatment to severe acute malnutrition for starving children.
From climate change to poverty to war, it’s time to tackle the roots of the crisis. Let’s stop S.A.M in its tracks and give children a fair chance of a future they deserve.
No child should be hungry.
