 Meds & Food for Kids logo | |
| Formation | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Patricia B. Wolff |
| Type | Health Charity, 501(c)(3) |
| Focus | Child malnutrition |
Area served | Haiti |
| Website | mfkhaiti |
Meds & Food for Kids (or MFK) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to treating and preventing child malnutrition in Haiti by producing fortified peanut-based foods. Meds & Food for Kids uses a peanut-based feeding approach called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), known as Medika Mamba (Haitian Creole for "Peanut Butter Medicine").
MFK was founded in 2004 by Pat Wolff, MD, formerly a pediatrician in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. Wolff first visited Haiti in 1988 with a mission group called the Haiti Project and volunteered at Mother Teresa's homes for dying children and adults. [1] Subsequently, Wolff volunteered in Haiti for fifteen years as a volunteer pediatrician at a village clinic. [2] In March 2011, Wolff left her private practice as a pediatrician to dedicate her time to MFK. [1]
The current C.E.O. is Chris Greene, [3] who succeeded Suzanne Langlois in 2022. [4]
Meds & Food for Kids produces a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food called "Medika Mamba," or "Peanut Butter Medicine" in Haitian Creole. It is made from a combination of ground peanuts, powdered milk, sugar, oil, and vitamins, does not require refrigeration, and unlike previous treatments for severe acute malnutrition, does not require clean water for preparation. [1] MFK produces "Medika Mamba" in their Cap Haitien factory with Haitian employees, using as many Haitian raw materials as possible. A treatment program for one child lasts six to eight weeks and requires 25 pounds of Medika Mamba. In 2010, MFK joined Nutriset's PlumpyField Network, a global community of independent producers of nutritional solutions for vulnerable populations. Members of the PlumpyField network have access to better machinery and strengthen quality assurance in order to comply with international standards. [5]
In an effort to use Haitian raw materials to produce Medika Mamba whenever possible, MFK started an agricultural development program, working with local peanut farmers to spread knowledge about best practices. The program has two branches, agricultural production assistance and peanut processing. In the peanut production branch, MFK agronomists research and train farmers regarding soil preparation methods, seed and row spacing, and fungicide and herbicide applications. In peanut processing, MFK seeks to find means of successfully monitoring levels of aflatoxin and other contaminants. [5]
In December 2011, MFK was awarded with a highly competitive USDA grant from McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program to develop and implement a school snack program through Haiti's National School Lunch Program. In addition, Meds & Food for Kids has partnered with Washington University in St. Louis and Konbit Sante of the Haitian Ministry of Health to conduct a research project testing the supplement Nutributter in an urban slum community in order to best identify strategies to improve upon feeding practices among the ultra-poor. [5]
MFK is a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in the United States and a registered Non-governmental Organization in Haiti. It is funded largely by grants as well as by generous corporate sponsors and individual donors from around the world.
The almond is a species of tree from the genus Prunus cultivated worldwide for its seed, a culinary nut. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the shell (endocarp) surrounding the seed.
Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organization which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger. The organization helps malnourished children and provides communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger.
Kwashiorkor is a form of severe protein malnutrition characterized by edema and an enlarged liver with fatty infiltrates. It is thought to be caused by sufficient calorie intake, but with insufficient protein consumption, which distinguishes it from marasmus. Recent studies have found that a lack of antioxidant micronutrients such as β-carotene, lycopene, other carotenoids, and vitamin C as well as the presence of aflatoxins may play a role in the development of the disease. However, the exact cause of kwashiorkor is still unknown. Inadequate food supply is correlated with occurrences of kwashiorkor; occurrences in high income countries are rare. It occurs amongst weaning children to ages of about five years old.
The peanut, also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and large commercial producers. It is classified as both a grain legume and, due to its high oil content, an oil crop. Atypically among legume crop plants, peanut pods develop underground (geocarpy) rather than above ground. With this characteristic in mind, the botanist Carl Linnaeus gave peanuts the specific epithet hypogaea, which means "under the earth".
Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly Aspergillus species mainly by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. According to the USDA, "They are probably the best known and most intensively researched mycotoxins in the world." The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, maize, peanuts, coffee, wheat, millet, sorghum, cassava, rice, chili peppers, cottonseed, tree nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and various cereal grains and oil seeds. In short, the relevant fungi grow on almost any crop or food. When such contaminated food is processed or consumed, the aflatoxins enter the general food supply. They have been found in both pet and human foods, as well as in feedstocks for agricultural animals. Animals fed contaminated food can pass aflatoxin transformation products into milk, milk products, and meat. For example, contaminated poultry feed is the suspected source of aflatoxin-contaminated chicken meat and eggs in Pakistan.
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues and form. Malnutrition is not receiving the correct amount of nutrition.
Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Consumed in many countries, it is the most commonly used of the nut butters, a group that also includes cashew butter and almond butter.
Roux is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness. A roux can be white, blond (darker) or brown. Butter, bacon drippings or lard are commonly used fats. Roux is used as a thickening agent for gravy, sauces, soups and stews. It provides the base for a dish, and other ingredients are added after the roux is complete.
Famine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common. In spite of the much greater technological and economic resources of the modern world, famine still strikes many parts of the world, mostly in the developing nations.
Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in American, Chinese, Indian, African and Southeast Asian cuisine, both for general cooking and in the case of roasted oil, for added flavor. Peanut oil has a high smoke point relative to many other cooking oils, so it is commonly used for frying foods.
Therapeutic foods are foods designed for specific, usually nutritional, therapeutic purposes as a form of dietary supplement. The primary examples of therapeutic foods are used for emergency feeding of malnourished children or to supplement the diets of persons with special nutrition requirements, such as the elderly.
Plumpy'Nut is a peanut-based paste in a plastic wrapper for treatment of severe acute malnutrition manufactured by Nutriset, a French company. Feeding with the 92-gram packets of this paste reduces the need for hospitalization. It can be administered at home, allowing more people to be treated.
André Briend is a French pediatric nutritionist best known for his 1996 co-formulation of Plumpy'nut, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), with Dr. Mark Manary. Starting in 1994, Briend, who at the time worked at Institut de recherche pour le développement, worked with Michel Lescanne to develop variants of renutrition products in solid form. At the time, the WHO-recommended diet for the treatment of severe malnutrition required clean water, a commodity only available in hospitals in most developing countries. These trial products were ultimately discarded for not meeting the requirements of good shelf-life, pleasant taste, or logistic simplicity. In 1996, inspired by a jar of chocolate spread which had a similar composition of proteins, energy, and lipids as the diet recommended by the WHO, Briend came up with the idea of replacing part of the dry skim milk in the existing recipe with peanut butter and eventually created Plumpy'nut. Briend also served as a medical officer for the Department of Child & Adolescent Health and Development at the World Health Organization.
Community Therapeutic Care is a new approach to dealing with acute malnutrition.
Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was a peanut-processing business which is now defunct as a result of one of the most massive and lethal food-borne contamination events in U.S. history.
Canaan, Haiti, is a suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets and Thomazeau in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, by 2016 an estimated population of 200,000 is settling in the about 50 square kilometers large territory that was expropriated in reaction to the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since 2010 earthquake victims that were fleeing the chaos in the adjacent Port-au-Prince neighborhoods, migrants from rural zones of Haiti and people profiting from the uncontrolled situation invested according to ONU-Habitat data more than 10 million US Dollar in the development of the "new city".
Michel Lescanne is a French food processing engineer jointly responsible for the invention of the ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) Plumpy'nut in 1996, and presently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the French pharmaceutical manufacturer Nutriset.
Citadel spread is a paste made of peanut butter, oil, sugar and milk powder. First developed as a trail food for hikers, a citadel spread resembles common ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) formulations, such as Plumpy'nut.
Patricia B. Wolff is a St. Louis pediatrician who worked combat childhood malnutrition in Haiti. She is a Professor Emerita of Clinical Pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2003 she founded a nonprofit organization called Meds and Food for Kids.