Meds & Food for Kids (MFK): RUTF (Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food) in Haiti

Abstract

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) was founded in 2003 by Dr. Patricia Wolff with a mission to save the lives of malnourished children in Haiti using locally manufactured ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). MFK also trains employees and vendors to improve their productivity. It uses local agricultural produce such as peanuts, thereby increasing employment and income generation from agriculture in the country. MFK works in coordination with the Haitian government, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and non-governmental organizations such as UNICEF and the World Bank.

Starting in a small church room, by 2012 MFK had established a full manufacturing plant with an investment of $732,034 and a capacity of treating 80,000 children per year. The employment generated by this plant rose from 40 in 2013 to 56 in 2015. However, the cost of RUTF being produced by MFK was higher than that of other suppliers of RUTF worldwide. The buyers were required to make a tradeoff between the locally produced, higher-priced product and the imported lower-priced product.

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