Today Today, Project Peanut Butter (PPB) serves hundreds of thousands of malnourished children. The non-profit organization has 3 main methods of distributing Chiponde to those who need it: PPB sites (21 clinics) providing the RUTF, staff, training and outreach; PPB-supported sites (~50) receiving the RUTF and training at no cost, PPB affiliated clinics where we sell our RUTF at the cost of manufacture to multiple governments and charities (~90) around the world. One of the most unique aspects to the organization’s work is that the Chiponde is produced within the local countr(ies) where it is served, using as many local ingredients as possible. PPB’s Malawi factory is located in Blantyre and buys ingredients from local peanut and soy farmers, helping to sustain the local economy. Roughly 6,000 local farmers are supported through the project’s expanding food production in Malawi. An important component of the success of the PPB model is the training that local health workers receive from PPB staff to identify Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), dispense the RUTF, and administer the program. Again, helping to provide jobs and stabilize the local community. Today, PPB has expanded into Sierra Leone, where it operates an internationally inspected factory, and Mali, which is in its initial stages.
The Start In 1999, Dr. Mark Manary moved to Malawi, a hot spot for Severe Acute Malnutrition, for 10 weeks. He used this time to zero in on the requirements for a successful home-based therapy program. The food had to be something that didn’t spoil, didn’t need to be cooked, was energy dense, could be given in small amounts and could get the job done.” Dr. Manary’s early exploration of home-based therapy evolved into a successful, long-term collaboration with Dr. Andre Briend, who now works with the World Health Organization, and Nutriset, a French company that produced early versions of Ready to Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs). From 2000 to 2004, the doctors and their small teams tested various formulas with thousands of malnourished children in a series of controlled clinical trials within Malawi, Africa. The strategy was to feed RUTFs to children in the main hospital wards who could not eat other food. The results were striking: 95% of these children recovered! Compare that to the 25% to 40% who fully recover using traditional hospital therapies, and as Dr. Manary says, “you don’t need to be a statistician to know this is different, and powerful.”
“Simply producing the food somewhere, doesn’t feed the kids. There is much more to it.” Dr. Mark Manary
T r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l
Project Peanut Butter - About Us
A Day in Clinic Severe malnutrition is tightly linked to extreme poverty – poor families living on the edge, with no margin for error. When something goes wrong, such as an unexpected injury or illness, the death of a parent, drought and other disasters, it’s difficult to recover. Often the children in a family suffer as hunger and illness sets in. Typically it is at this point when mothers gather with their sick children at a Project Peanut Butter clinic. Many of these women walk for hours to get to a site. Some walk for days. At a typical PPB rural clinic in Malawi, PPB staff and volunteers arrive early in the morning to a local site, often a simple grouping of useable buildings. As patients wait, a nurse might lead mothers in singing. The songs convey important ideas about nutrition, family planning, hygiene, illness prevention, health care, and other topics. A child’s height, weight, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) are measured and compared to international standards. Each child is checked for anemia and edema, a swelling caused by severe malnutrition. Recent health history is reviewed. If the child qualifies, the scientifically proven, home-based therapy, known as Chiponde is provided free of charge. Mothers are given a 2 week supply of the RUTF for the child who must return to the clinic for bi-weekly check-ups and to pick up more food. Typically, full recovery takes 4 to 8 weeks.
“When a child’s body becomes swollen or quite thin from malnutrition, it’s essential to get treatment quickly, especially if the child is between 6 months and 3 years old, when critical development processes are underway.” Dr. Mark Manary
Recovery Rate: Traditional vs. RUTF Therapy 
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“I made a commitment to see that this advance actually becomes [available] to every child who needs it.” Dr. Mark Manary
“It’s all run purely by Malawians. It makes us happy and proud that we are able to produce this product, which is serving our own Malawian child.” Liyaka Nchilamwela, Factory Manager (retired), PPB Malawi
“I am grateful to all the people working to make Chiponde available. My children are alive thanks to it.” Aida, mother of Pilirani, successfully treated Spring 2009.
© Copyright 2009 Jeff Davis. All rights reserved.
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