A new facility in Fitzgerald, Ga., called MANA (Mother Administered Nutritive Aid), is planned to open its doors in May, 2011, and will begin producing a ready to use therapeutic food that is needed for severely malnourished kids who are about to die. 

For tens of thousands of kids under six, basic nutrition is a matter of life and death. There are about a billion hungry people in the world. Hunger gives way to chronic malnutrition, and in its most severe form, severe acute malnutrition kills 1,000,000-2,000,000 million kids a year. In fact, it’s estimated that a child dies every six seconds from malnutrition-related causes.

The protocol for serving these needy kids is to treat them with Therapeutic Peanut Butter Paste (RUTF). RUTF stands for Ready to Use Therapeutic Food, and it’s been designed specifically to treat kids diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). 

RUTF can be broadly defined as peanut butter mixed with fortified milk in an over-sized ketchup packet.

The MANA factory that is opening in Fitzgerald, will be one of the largest RUTF production facilities in the world.