Project Peanut Butter
Posted by Coleman Graf
Project Peanut Butter seeks to advance the treatment of severe malnutrition, the single largest cause of child death in the world today, using effective, locally produced ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF). This nonprofit is formed to provide needed nutritional and medical support primarily to children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, and Rotary is a major supporter, including our own Club.
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Experimentation with various ingredients in the food was done until a formula was created that provides the specific, high quality nutrition that severely malnourished children need to recover. The food became known as Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). RUTF is an energy-dense, peanut butter like paste, but it is more than just peanut butter. It consists of roasted ground peanuts (peanut paste), powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, and vitamins/minerals. Peanuts contain mono-unsaturated fats, which are easy to digest, and they are rich in protein and zinc, which is good for the immune system.
The Project Peanut Butter plant in Sierra Leone prior to getting the Rotary Grant, was only large enough to furnish RUTF for half the country. The Grant came in with prefect timing to prove the necessity for production inside the country. When the borders closed during to the Ebola crisis, RUTF was not able to come into the country to meet the increased need. However, with the Grant, Project Peanut Butter was able to increase production and meet the increased need, saving thousands of children who would have died.