Malnutrition causes HALF of all child deaths worldwide
Huger and Malnutrition kill more people than HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria combined
Nearly 20 million children under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition
The statistics regarding malnutrition are alarming. A television news story and a trip to Africa spawned uncommon partnerships between a pharmacy school in Florida, a South African candy manufacturer, a commercial farm in Zambia and donors from America’s heartland. Organized by a Surgance social entrepreneur, these partners are woking together to give infants, school children, and HIV/AIDS patients a fighting chance against these malnutrition statistics.
The Almus Project is now the Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program
About the Name
Almus is a Latin word that means kind, generous and nourishing.
Our Mission
The Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program exists to address the life-threatening issue of malnutrition that currently affects millions of people throughout the world. The Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program is based on the concept of thinking globally and acting locally. The Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program is committed to bringing to bear the financial and technological resources of the western world in partnership with local communities, beginning in the Sub-Saharan African nation of Zambia, to address the threat of malnutrition.
Malnutrition
Half of all child deaths worldwide are caused by malnutrition
Hunger and malnutrition kill more people in the world than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. As food prices rise, millions are being driven deeper into poverty everyday while trying to afford basic staples. Many are at risk of having nothing to eat at all.
Nearly 20 million children under five suffer from severeacute malnutrition
Globally, it is estimated that there are nearly 20 million children who are severely acutely malnourished. Most of them live in south Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa. Severe acute malnutrition contributes to 1 million child deaths every year.
Peanut-based Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is an energy-dense lipid paste very similar to commercial peanut butter, but with added vitamins and minerals, powdered milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. It has been used successfully in home-based care as the singular therapeutic food for severely malnourished children with a 90% recovery rate. It is produced locally for the children of sub-Saharan Africa and is also available commercially from Nutriset in Malaunay, France. It can be stored, unrefrigerated, for months without spoiling.
Click the video player below to see 60 Minutes' coverage of RUTF.
Project Peanut Butter is a therapeutic feeding program for malnourished children in Malawi and Sierra Leone, on the continent of Africa. It was founded by Professor Mark Manary, M.D., a pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and a professor of pediatric medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Manary conducted the first clinical trials of RUTF, and his protocols and formula are recognized by the United Nations and World Health Organization as the most effective way to treat severe accute malnutrition in children. He has worked in Africa for more than two decades, finding his calling solving the problem of severe malnutrition among the world’s most impoverished and malnourished children. He is recognized the world over as a leading authority on severe childhood malnutrition.
Palm Beach Atlantic University – Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy
The Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy at Palm Beach Atlantic University is a state-of-the-art pharmacy school offering the Doctor of Pharmacy degree since 2005. Based on the core values of Christian character, Servanthood, Caring Community, Lifelong Growth and Learning, and Academic and Professional Excellence, the Lloyd L Gregory School of Pharmacy is committed to developing the next generation of caring and committed servant leaders in the field of Pharmacy.
The Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program is partnering with the Gregory School of Pharmacy to research and develop additional RUTFs for malnourished HIV infected adults, as supplemental food for vulnerable populations, and as complementary food for children at risk for the development of malnutrition.
Bright Hope World – Maplehurst Farm
Maplehurst Farm is a commercial farm owned and operated by Bright Hope World in Kabwe, Zambia.
Bright Hope World is a New Zealand –based, Christian relief and development organization that values people by investing in their future. Bright Hope World currently works in 40 countries focusing on the poorest of the poor, reaching over 200,000 families, millions of people and countless communities by investing in partnerships that are field-driven, easily replicated, and sustainable environmentally and socially.
The Surgance Nutrition & Feeding Program partners with Maplehurst Farm to produce RUTF in Kabwe and to distribute it throughout Zambia.
For more information about The Almus Project, email andy.milligan@surgance.com
CLICK HEREfor the latest updates on The Almus Project
