The simplest things can save the most lives. Oral rehydration therapy [1] — via a cheap mix of 8 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt in a liter of water (or the prepackaged equivalent) — keeps kids from dying of diarrhea. In 1978 The Lancet editorialized:

The discovery that sodium transport and glucose transport are coupled in the small intestine so that glucose accelerates absorption of solute and water [is] potentially the most important medical advance this century.

A new candidate for a new century: the goofily-named goo Plumpy'nut [2]. It's an inexpensive peanut-based vitamin-enriched product that comes in 500 kCal pouches. A few servings a day rescues a starving child for less than $1. Plumpy'nut is being distributed in areas of central African famine now. More would help.

(see the 12 Apr 2005 Wall Street Journal "In Battling Hunger, A New Advance: Peanut-Butter Paste" [3] by Roger Thurow, the 8 Aug 2005 New York Times "Hope for Hungry Children, Arriving in a Foil Packet" by Michael Wines, and the 5 Nov 2005 Economist "The wonders of Plumpy'nut: Saving lives with peanut butter"; cf. Oxfam International [4], InvestInPeace (9 Jul 2002), RoomToRead (23 Oct 2004), NativityNetwork (25 Nov 2004), EstateTax (6 May 2005), ...)

TopicScience - TopicLife - TopicSociety - 2005-11-06

(correlates: NativityNetwork, NewYorkNewYork, NooseOfTheAssassin, ...)