Project/Icons / advocateProject/Icons / appealsProject/Icons / blog postProject/Icons / documentsProject/Icons / educateProject/Icons / healthProject/Icons / media releaseIcons/moneyIcons/moneyx2Project/Icons / petitionIcons/Ionic/Social/social-pinterestProject/Icons / protectProject/Icons / quoteProject/Icons / supportProject/Icons / volunteerProject/Icons / water
Donate

The power of peanut paste

23 June 2025, Impact of Our Work

The superfood that saves lives

Peanuts are known as a superfood that can give a boost of nutrition and energy. In many places like Somaliland, it is also an effective treatment for malnutrition.

This compact ready-to-use therapeutic food is effectively used by healthcare workers as a critical medical intervention to help save the lives of children threatened by this deadly condition. The benefits are many: Each sachet is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals – filled with 500 calories of high nutrient peanut paste. 

After a few days of treatment with peanut paste, strength returns to wasted muscles. It can bring back a child from the brink of deadly hunger towards better health and greater energy.

It’s ready to eat, without need for cooking or keeping in the fridge. And for families living in remote areas who require long travel to get to health centres, it’s a convenient and effective way to defeat malnutrition from home.

Helping save the life of a child 

From Somaliland, Kenya, Syria and many other places around the world affected by climate emergencies and conflict, peanut paste is a total lifesaver for children like Abdi*, Ereng* and Hamza*

A global shortage due to aid cuts

The growing hunger crisis is threatening children’s lives.

Watch this video.

Recent aid cuts have led to a global shortage of peanut paste. It's the treatment that brought little Abdi, Ereng and Hamza on the path to recovery when suffering from deadly severe acute malnutrition.

But time is running out. The gaps in global supply of this peanut paste mean only 40% of children who need this treatment will receive this lifesaving intervention in 2025, leaving millions at risk. 

Without peanut paste, local health workers and clinics in remote regions are faced with the dilemma of falling short of their commitment to save every child’s life.

Banner photo: Sam Vox / Save the Children.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

 

Stay up to date on how Save the Children is creating a world where every child has a safe and happy childhood