Navyn Salem: Peanuts saving lives

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Navyn SalemEdesia Founder Navyn Salem talks about a simple and affordable way to save lives in the developing world.

UNICEF estimates, around the world, nearly 160 million children are chronically undernourished. It says each year about three million children die due to malnutrition.

Navyn Salem is the founder of Edesia, a nonprofit, U.S.-based food aid company. It produces a simple product called “Plumpy’Nut” that is full of micronutrients to treat and prevent malnutrition in developing countries.

“I realized that malnutrition really shouldn’t be killing children in this day and age,” Salem said. “We know what the problem is and the solution, and there’s a really easy way to solve this problem.”

Navyn Salem: Peanuts saving lives

Navyn Salem, the founder of Edesia, talks about saving children's lives in the developing world.

Since starting production in 2010, her Rhode Island factory has sent more than 3.5 million so-called “miracle packets” to children in 46 countries. The product has proved to be lifesaving.

“We want children to learn in school, every one of them to live a productive life, and do well and get good job in the future,” Salem explained. “We really need to make sure that we intervene at this critical time to deliver the micronutrients or the affect is irreversible.”

From Rhode Island, Navyn Salem joined May Lee in our Los Angeles studio to talk about Edesia’s mission to save as many lives as possible in the developing world.