Malnutrition has plagued communities since the dawn of humanity, exacerbated by climate change, political conflict, and socioeconomic disadvantages. It undermines physical and cognitive development and threatens survival of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Severe acute malnutrition, also referred to as “wasting”, is a life-threatening condition where a person, often a child, doesn’t get the essential nutrients they need to maintain body weight, sustain growth, or develop a strong immune system. Without urgent treatment, severe acute malnutrition can be fatal.
Aid workers use a Middle Upper Arm Circumference bracelet to detect signs of malnourishment
We hope scientists, economists, and politicians will solve the problem of world hunger.
Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, or RUTF, is a nutrient-dense food specially formulated to treat severe acute malnutrition and restore a child’s weight, strength, and overall health.
RUTF is:
Ending malnutrition means tackling it from every angle. Mana produces a variety of life-saving nutrition products to meet a wider range of needs and address malnourishment at every stage.
RUTF is designed to therapeutically treat children ages six months and older who have been diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). It comes in an easy-to-open food-grade packet, does not require added water, cooking or refrigeration, and boasts a two-year shelf life. It is easily deployed, and allows a mother to feed her child without checking into a feeding center.
RUSF is designed to treat children ages six months to five years who have been diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). While RUTF is meant as a meal replacement, RUSF is typically a supplement to other feeding. RUSF treats the low-grade malnutrition that leads to stunting and a multitude of other health problems. It lowers the cost of intervention as a child only needs one packet per day – not three.
While RUTF and RUSF treat malnutrition, LNS products are designed to help prevent malnutrition. LNS products are given to at-risk children ages six months to three years or to at-risk women during pregnancy and lactation. Medium Quantity LNS (MQLNS) is similar to RUSF in its composition, but the packets are half the size. The half-size (and roughly half-cost) of MQLNS makes it an affordable alternative for preventing malnutrition in both kids and moms.
MANA’s HSR product is designed as a food aid intervention for children and adults not yet suffering from clinical malnutrition, but who need safe, nutritious, shelfstable foods and who are temporarily unable to cook for themselves. It’s a fortified peanut butter with twice the protein of normal peanut butter. It provides the simplicity and ease of MANA’s ready-to-use products, but it is not specifically designed for diagnosed medical conditions.
Change starts in our own backyards. Mana products are proudly manufactured in Fitzgerald, Georgia, where we create meaningful employment opportunities and growth-minded career paths supported by new technologies, sustainable ingredient sourcing, and carbon offsetting.
