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Letters to the Editor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2009

Gilles Pallanca
Gilles Pallanca*
Affiliation:
94 Boulevard René Cassin, 06200 Nice, France
*
Email: gilles.pallanca@wanadoo.fr
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Information

Type
Letter to the Editor
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , February 2009, pp. 291
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2009

Leaf concentrate. Undernutrition. AIDS

The elimination of NOMA (Cancrum oris)?

Madam

In support of the letters you have published from Glyn Davys and Professor John Waterlow(Reference Davys1, Reference Waterlow2), I testify as follows. I am a medical doctor, and a member of the charity Enfants du Monde, with whom I work regularly in the province of Yatenga in Burkina Faso.

My clinical observation is that when children in bush villages and schools, malnourished in the first, second or third degree, take daily leaf concentrate made from lucerne, their general state of health quickly improves, as evidenced for example by weight gain, liveliness, correction of pre-existing anaemia, and better attention span at school.

Today 6000 children are taking 10 grams of leaf concentrate daily. Tolerance is excellent. Among children with AIDS the results are particularly spectacular, and also those who are wounded or infected and cared for by our travelling ambulance recover more rapidly. Finally, Enfants du Monde pursues a determined campaign against NOMA (oral gangrene). The children taking leaf concentrate are unscathed by this awful affliction.

References

1.Davys, G (2009) The greatest untapped food resource on earth? (letter). Public Health Nutr 12, 142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Waterlow, J (2008) Undernutrition should be the first priority (letter). Public Health Nutr 11, 651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar