Nutrition

Behaviour change solutions to non-communicable disease challenges: empowering low-income Colombians to commercialize and consume healthy products via social enterprise micro franchising People in poorer areas of Medellin, Colombia eat unhealthy as their diet is dominated by products they can afford: excessive fried foods (often in overused oil), processed products with high additive/sugar/salt content, and low vegetable intake. The result is an unhealthy lifestyle, higher cholesterol levels, increased blood pressure and obesity. These effects are estimated to cause 40% of Colombian deaths.

Globally 60% of pregnant women are at risk of malaria infection in pregnancy, placing the lives of both the mother and fetus at risk. Our project aims to improve fetal growth through dietary supplementation of L-arginine, an amino acid essential for placental development that is reduced in malaria. Follow Andrea Conroy on Twitter @AndreaLConroy"

Low levels of the vitamin thiamin (B1) in the diet of breastfeeding mothers in Southeast Asia results in widespread beriberi disease in their infants, causing heart failure and thousands of child deaths.  In Cambodia alone, the problem kills about 700 children per year.  The project will introduce fortified fish sauce to mothers’ diets, a simple, cost-effective and sustainable way to raise maternal blood and breast milk thiamin levels, helping to lower the rate of infantile beriberi.

Barcodes for improved child vaccination and family nutrition is a new approach by University of Nairobi innovators to address pockets of under-vaccination among children under-5 in rural Kenya. This novel "seed voucher for vaccination" is expected to increase uptake of immunization services while stimulating food production on small farms.

A combination of poverty, malnutrition, illness and a lack of stimulation at home puts at risk the cognitive development of millions of children in the developing world. Operating in an urban slum of Bangladesh, women trained within this project will make 13 home visits in a child's first year of life to counsel parents on infant feeding and psychosocial stimulation - an integrated, sustainable, cost-effective approach potentially able to be implemented through the existing health system in Bangladesh.

Our project aims to develop a low-cost and portable hematology analyzer as a screening tool for several key global health diseases including parasitic infections (viral, bacterial, fungal, and helminths), micronutrient deficiency (Iron, Vitamin A, and Vitamin B12), and hemoglobinopathies (sickle cell, thalassemia, and G6PD).

In Bolivia, 33% of women of childbearing age, 59.8% of children under five and 78% of children under two have anemia. Iron deficiency affects more than 50% of the indigenous population and 80% of indigenous children under two.  At least 11% of young children in Bolivia suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.  This project will produce a cultivation and consumption plan for green cañahua plants (Chenopodium pallidicaule Allen) to increase the availability of high-quality protein, iron, calcium and Vitamin A in the diet of women and children in highland regions.

In Haiti, many women and children suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, and the growth of 20% of children is stunted. This project aims to build the capacity of a local social enterprise to bring to market a fortified infant cereal that meets the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. The key to success is the integrated approach with the development of a business plan and social marketing strategy that will engage local stakeholders to strengthen the supply chain by improving agricultural practices, production, marketing and distribution of the cereal.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, malnourishment affects the growth, brain development and cognitive ability of millions of children. Infants that do not receive enough omega-3 fatty acids in the womb are at the risk of developing vision and nerve problems. This project will create a source of low-cost omega-3-fatty acid eggs.

Hundreds of edible species of ants, beetles, moths and other insects, rich in protein and iron (see http://bit.ly/1qam0HU), are only seasonally available for millions of people who consume them. This project will develop and distribute insect farming technologies to make this cheap, nutritious and safe food source available for year-round consumption in Kenya's slum conditions, reducing malnutrition and high rates of anemia, especially among pregnant women.