alefa is 7 months old. she is just entering the critical 6-month-to-two-year-old window where children are most vulnerable to the impact of malnutrition. jason: alefa is, uh, severely malnourished and, um, (unclear), as you can see from the extremely small arms. second narrator: severely malnourished children at this age are at great risk. untreated, more than half will die. pilirani is two years old. severely malnourished kids often swell up with edema, a painful build-up of fluid under the skin. pilirani's swelling is so severe he can barely walk. until recently, the best treatment available for pilirani and alefa was one to two months of hospitalization. but t even n the best rural hospitals, only 25% to 40% of children fully recover. project p peanut t butr gets much better results by distributing a special ready-to-use theraputic food to the mothers who will take it with them and treat their own children at home. ready-to-use theraputic food is powerful medicine. this peanut-based formula is effective,