Goldman Fund Commits $1.25 Million to Fight Child Malnutrition in Africa
Goldman Fund Commits $1.25 Million to Combat Child Malnutrition in Africa
The San Francisco-based Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund has pledged $1.25 million to five international relief organizations working to reduce child malnutrition in Africa.
The grant recipients — Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF), Concern Worldwide (U.S.), Helen Keller International, Action Against Hunger, and CARE — are helping to revolutionize the fight against hunger through a new treatment strategy that uses Plumpy'nut, a nutrient-fortified peanut butter and milk-based paste, and other ready-to-use therapeutic foods. The grant will enable the relief agencies to help an estimated 300,000 African children over the next year.
Unlike enriched milk, a traditional malnutrition treatment that requires clean water, refrigeration, and strict feeding schedules in a hospital setting, Plumpy'nut requires no refrigeration, dilution with water, or specialized administration; it also has a two-year shelf life. Developed in 1999 by French scientist Andé Bend, the treatment has been used during major nutrition emergencies in Dar fur, Malawi, and Niger.
"As a foundation, we have the ability to fund initiatives we believe can help change the world, leaving it a better place than when we found it," said Goldman Fund founder Richard N. Goldman. "Our goal for this donation is to call attention to the hunger epidemic plaguing the children of Africa and encourage additional support of innovative means of ending malnutrition throughout the world."
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