From the starving provinces of Niger comes word of a simple miracle that saves dying children... for pennies.

Plumpy'nut, which comes in a silvery foil package the size of two grasping baby-size hands, is 500 calories of fortified peanut butter, a beige paste about as thick as mashed potatoes and stuffed with milk, vitamins and minerals. But that is akin to calling a 1945 Mouton Rothschild fortified grape juice.

The French-made product is so simple that mothers can administer it. No doctors required. A four-week treatment costs just $20, and some children only need half that time to get healthy again. It can be made almost anywhere and mixed with with local material.

Good news.