MFK Recent News

Limbé: A Model Clinic

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:23:00 -0400

Located in a small town about half an hour west of Cap Haitian, Limbé Clinic serves as a community health center that coordinates a multitude of programs, from maternity health to voluntary counseling and HIV testing. For many years, with support from MFK and the World Bank, it has also run an outpatient program to treat children for acute malnutrition with Medika Mamba.

Madam Thoby runs the show with outstanding success rates, part of which can be attributed to how seriously she takes the program protocols. Following the end of the grant with MFK, Limbé is now able to keep this program up and running through the generosity of an individual donor. Dr. Alvarez visited the clinic earlier this year and chose to channel his generosity into supplying the clinic with life-saving Medika Mamba, after seeing firsthand the importance of this program for the community and the quick turnaround rates of children who enter the program with little hope and leave with much more, their health. Madam Thoby recently told the story of a young boy named Mèrèlus. He entered the program with severe Kwashiorkor, an acute form of childhood protein-energy malnutrition. When the mother returned, two weeks later, Madam Thoby was confused since it appeared she hadn’t brought her son with her to the clinic. Replacing confusion with joy, the mother explained that the young boy sitting next to her was Mèrèlus. “We’re still seeing miracles,” she said with a huge smile and a face that exudes dedication. She went on to explain that often children with severe Kwashiorkor complete the treatment in less than the full 12 weeks allowed by the protocols. They’ve typically turned around by 10 weeks, which demonstrates that mothers are listening, learning, and adhering to Madam Thoby’s instructions for effective use. Prior to using the Medika Mamba, vitamin enriched milk with much lower success rates and higher associated costs was used. Now, with their community based care approach paired with the gold standard treatment for malnutrition, hope has been restored in the nurses, the mothers, and in the children. Madam Thoby explained that when the kids come into the clinic and see the sachets of Medika Mamba, they cry. They want the Mamba.

Madam Thoby works alongside Madam Yva; the two women combined have clocked up sixty years at the Limbé Clinic. Together they have seen many changes, developed strong ties with the other existing hospital in the area, and they continue to improve the livelihoods of many with strong educational programs and low cost life saving services.

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Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

MFK Will Be Featured in Haiti Documentary

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:57:00 -0400

Meds & Food For Kids is featured today in a article, "Peanut Butter Miracle" by Fran Mannino in the Webster-Kirkwood Times. It also discusses two filmmakers, Lori Dowd and Frank Poppers, who are making a documentary about the use of Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Food in Haiti.

To read the full article please click here.

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PCRSP sets up a trial plot

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:31:00 -0400

Tim Brenneman and David Jordan’s itinerary for their recent visit to Haiti through MFK’s partnership with the Peanut Collaborative Research and Support Program (PCRSP) seems to leave little room for error, let alone downtime. However, lacking the advanced techniques, machinery, and equipment that is prevalent in the United States, there is often no other option but to adjust to the unexpected. Each step is accompanied by a challenge, though rarely insurmountable. They’re quickly reminded of the differing rate at which success is achieved in Haiti’s agriculture sector compared to that of the United States. It wouldn’t be a typical morning if one of MFK’s two vehicles didn’t pose an issue or simply wasn’t working. This day, after loading the car with seed, seed treatment, tools for planting, and bags of miscellaneous items needed for a day of field work, the alternator malfunctioned. There was little confidence that the car would last through the day, a chance not worth taking when time is valuable and limited. After coming up with a plan of action for repair and switching vehicles, the team was on their way to lay a new trial plot which will test a variety of seed.

First, the seed must be treated by hand, a task accomplished by machinery in much less time in the United States. The treatment is applied to reduce the potential of fungi growth on peanuts, an important though not an easy feat in the tropics. Reducing fungi growth leads to increased yields, though to what degree remains uncertain when factors such as rainfall and rodents play into the picture. In an area where increased yields affects putting food on the table and sending children to school rather than profit margins, it is a step that cannot be ignored.

Above: Tim Brenneman treats over 15 bags of seed separately taking caution not to damage them.

Meanwhile, David and James repair an oil leak in the newly acquired, but nowhere near shiny or new, tractor that makes it possible to plow twice as much land in half the amount of time than by hand. Techniques and technologies like this are so uncommon that within minutes two crowds have formed, one around Tim treating the seed and the other around David and James who repair the tractor and fill the machine with fuel, another comparatively difficult task. Only 10 feet from the tractor a man splits bamboo with a machete supplying the men with stakes to mark the varieties of seed planted in the trial plot. This is merely the preparation phase.

Above: They improvise a makeshift gas station and use bamboo stakes to mark the local varieties

Seven hours later, the field is freshly plowed, a new trial plot laid, peanuts planted, and relationships formed with members of the community, some of whom gathered to observe, others to work, and still more to provide hospitality to MFK’s PCRSP partners.

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Madame Bwa

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:43:00 -0400

Madame Bwa lives and works in Cap Haitian’s poorest slum, Shada. For MFK, she educates mothers about good nutrition and clean water and refers severely malnourished children to the Medika Mamba malnutrition program at Hôpital Justinien. Her work also involves a free clinic, midwifery services, and nutrition and sexual education of kids and adolescents. The narrow mud alleys of Shada leading up to her clinic are filled with glass and other trash, tepid water, and curious children. Inside her clinic, it is overflowing with patients, because it is the one day a week that they can pay a doctor to come for consultations. Fungal and helminthic infections, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis and HIV are common. Tests for diagnoses are expensive and even with a diagnosis, medicine is scarce. Over the noise of screaming children, she tells of the hardship of watching the children suffer, especially those that she helped bring into this world. As a midwife, she averages 50 births a month, which makes 2-3 births a day. She has been working in the area for 33 years. Doing the math, most of the kids in the clinic were brought into the world with her assistance.

Similar to MFK's mission, she tries to address the root causes of the problems she sees on a daily basis. Her work educating young women about sex has decreased young pregnancies. Her practical skills program includes sowing and shoe making and provides a social opportunity for adolescents. Repeatedly, she uses the words ‘not enough' - not enough medicine, not enough money, not enough space - and yet she is so grateful for little things. Madame Bwa is an incredible woman who has almost nothing but is willing to give everything. She represents a bulwark against resignation. Every day she fights for a better future for her community and the people in Shada.

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Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Sony, a Haitian Farmer

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:17:00 -0400

Sony Charles lives in Welsh, Haiti, a community of a few hundred small framers near the Dominican border. It is a very pretty area with rolling hills and mountains rising up to the central plateau. However, the area is poor and often farmers lose their entire harvests due to drought; it was hit extremely hard during the 2008 food crisis.
Sony is 32, married and has two young kids. His family runs a small bakery (very tasty peasant style bread) and farms, mostly peanuts. His mother and all of his brothers have their own peanut gardens. His wife, Roselyn, now works with the local women's group that has started an artisanal peanut butter factory aiming to sell peanut butter to the Dominican market. Sony helped arrange for them to receive funding through the United Nations Development Program, but they are still having difficulty because the glass jars they need for packaging are unavailable in Haiti, and cost two times the value of the peanut butter when purchased in the Dominican Republic. Sony also helped the women's group build a storage building for peanuts that allows them to keep seed through the dormancy period and resell it at a small profit. In addition, two years ago Sony helped organize a local group to fund the construction of a bridge across a river that previously would cut off the community entirely during the rainy season.

Though Sony probably makes most of his income as a mason, he has always been a person who grows peanuts and buys peanuts from all the surrounding farmers. In this capacity, he has really led the charge to work with Meds & Food for Kids. He has connected James Rhoads, MFK’s agriculture development specialist, with a local Oxfam-funded peanut and manioc (cassava) project, and has taken what he learned from MFK’s peanut training to ask this project for more help in improving their quality so that they can sell us more peanuts and not poison their children. He has pushed the international funded projects in the area to accomplish something of lasting benefit for the community. He gave James a piece of land to plant a small variety trial plot and has arranged to have it weeded and tended. MFK gave him a bag of our US peanut seed and he gave all the growers around a little to try, and started a competition to see who would have the nicest garden. Sony is motivated to create a vibrant community where he lives, and is now building a new house in Welsh, rather than on the better situated Dominican border.

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Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Beacon Shows MFK's Progress in Haiti

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:13:00 -0400

On July 22nd, Patricia Rice writes in the St. Louis Beacon about the progress in Haiti since the earthquake. It focuses on Meds & Food For Kids and a Haitian hospital, both founded by St. Louisians. The article discusses the problems facing Haiti following the earthquake and the relief provided by MFK. Rice writes that Medika Mamba "has more magic than anything in Willie Wonka's fictional factory." To read the complete story please Click here.

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Fetiana wants her Mamba!

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:12:00 -0400

Fetiana Aimable has the face of a precious three year old, but her arms and legs are dry and wrinkled from loss of water. Sitting on her mother’s lap, she coughs quietly but never whines. She lives with her parents and two older siblings, aged 8 and 9. Her parents are both unemployed and thus struggle to support their family, small as it is. Fetiana’s mother, Sheila, admits that they rely on the kindness of their neighbors for donations of money so that their kids can eat. She is shamed by this statement, but her voice remains fiercely steady because she has done what she must to help her children. She heard about the program through other mothers in her area that had seen their children ‘come back to life’ with Medika Mamba.

Last week when Fetiana started the Medika Mamba program, she had extensive edema; her face, arms, legs, and feet were swollen with fluids, a common aspect of acute malnutrition. In her first week of treatment, her weight dropped from 19 lbs to 15 lbs 10 oz, an 18% decrease due to loss of water alone. This loss of water weight is normal, as the body starts to regain normal functions, and now she can begin her climb to a normal weight for her height, which should enable her to fight off the little colds that continuously plague her. For a three year old, she appears unnaturally still and fragile, but her eyes glance around with an encouraging curiosity. Sheila expresses excitement about the coming weeks because Fetiana now has an appetite. Her mother used to have to force her to eat, and now, Fetiana is demanding her daily Mamba!

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PCRSP Visits Haiti

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:12:00 -0400

Tim Brenneman and David Jordan are associated with Meds & Food For Kids through a USAID funded project, the Peanut Collaborative Research and Support Project (PCRSP). Both recently joined MFK’s agronomist James Rhoads for a visit to assess trial plots, collect soil samples, plant more than 15 varieties of seed with local growers, collect data, and meet with potential partners for future collaborative efforts.

Pictured: David Jordan, front and Tim Brenneman, background.

Tim is a plant pathologist and professor at the University of Georgia. He has a PhD in plant pathology and heads up a university level program that focuses on improving disease management treatment strategies via an integrated approach of cultural practices, resistant germplasm, and wise use of fungicides. David Jordan is a crop science extension specialist and professor at North Carolina State University. He holds a PhD in agronomy and brings many years of professional experience in international activities primarily associated with peanut production and pest management in Ghana, West Africa. Each bring a keen awareness and understanding of the differences in agricultural practices between the United States and Haiti, partly because they recognize the limits of their knowledge and its applicability in an environment so vastly different. This was evident when after a long day in the field spent observing, conversing with local farmers, and learning lessons, Tim talked about the importance of knowing when to take a back seat. Expertise somewhere is not expertise everywhere. “It pays to talk to the locals,” said Tim after a brief visit with a peasant farmer that included a tour of his land. He continued, “This man knows his land. They do a lot more observing than I do. I mean, I’ve never had problems with rats eating peanuts prior to harvesting in the United States where everything is controlled for and easily monitored.” Tim was unlikely to prefer the specific variety of peanuts preferred by the farmer. However, after hearing from the farmer and relying on local knowledge, Tim understood why he would rather put in the extra time doing hard labor in order to produce any yield at all, especially when the other option could be none at all. He reiterates without hesitation, “It pays to talk to the locals.”

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Frank Nolin and New Equipment

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:07:00 -0400

Frank Nolin has made a huge contribution to MFK’s peanut processing technology. His donation of a sorting table and drying equipment will allow MFK to process Haitian peanuts faster and more effectively, allowing us to purchase more peanuts and reduce our costs considerably.

Donald Chase and Frank Nolin are old friends. Donald is the president of the Georgia Peanut Commission and a peanut farmer, whose yields are usually double the state average. Donald visited MFK in Haiti with the most recent visit from the PCRSP group. He saw the need for a peanut sorting table and since he had bought one for his kids that was not being used, he shipped it to Frank who cleaned it up and practically rebuilt the entire thing. Frank adapted the sorter table with a hopper, a feeder, and a peanut splitter that helps determine if the peanuts are contaminated. Even if a camera had been available when we first turned on the variable speed vibrating sorting table, it could not have captured the expressions from MFKs peanut processing staff as peanuts magically slid by.

Below is a photo of the sorter used

Frank is the former owner of Nolin Steel, a company founded by his father and now owned by his son. Nolin Steel manufactures all types of equipment, and specializes in equipment for peanuts. Frank designed and built the drier with suggestions from Dr. Chris Butts, the main agriculture engineer at the United States Department of Agriculture research station in Griffon, GA.

It’s a prototype for developing country settings, where energy is very expensive. The blower motor is very small and consumes very little power. It uses as much solar energy as possible to create heat and is assisted with a propane burner and

thermostat, similar to what is used in the US. The most important aspect of drying peanuts and other crops is the air movement rather than the temperature, as high temperatures cause problems.

Below is a photo of the dryer

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MFK in the news: read about "Dr. Peanut" here!

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:10:00 -0400

MFK - aka "Dr Peanut" - is the subject of an in-depth article published in the Riverfront Times this week here in St. Louis, as well as the Miami New Times, the Phoenix New Times, the Houston Press, the LA Weekly, and the San Francisco Weekly. Read here.

MFK at the GAIN Conference

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:10:00 -0400

Recently MFK’s Coordinator of Operations, Thomas Stehl, attended the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Business Alliance Global Forum in Dubai, U.A.E. GAIN is a Swiss organization that strives to reduce malnutrition and improve the health of at-risk populations throughout the world. The conference was an exciting opportunity to collaborate and form potential partnerships with other organizations such as World Food Programme, Nutriset, and Britannia Industries Ltd. who all share MFK’s mission in fighting malnutrition and providing nutritional supplements to those in need. MFK was chosen to attend this conference from a pool of over 200 applicants to Ashoka’s Changemakers competition due to our innovative and unique model of development. Tom spoke at the forum to spread the word about MFK’s dedicated work in Haiti and its unique approach in using Haitian raw materials and Haitian labor with Medika Mamba production. To see Tom’s full interview at the GAIN conference please click on the link below.

Tom's interview at the GAIN Conference

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Social Enterprise of the Day

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:09:00 -0400

On June 15, 2010, Meds & Food for Kids was named the Twitter "Social Enterprise of the Day" by Beyond Profit, a new social enterprise magazine. It is working to present stories and information about organizations developing new solutions that generate social development. During this week MFK was one of five organizations they focused on that are trying to feed the world. To read the full story please click on the link below.

MFK Social Enterprise of the Day

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Miss. Gourges

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:08:00 -0400

Miss Gourges, a nurse, has been a staple of Justinien Hospital’s pediatric ward for 23 years. Now she runs MFK’s malnutrition clinic at the same hospital, where she educates mothers about good nutrition habits and monitors progress. She gives off the impression of a no nonsense woman who is absolutely unflappable. Each time the children come in, Miss Gourges asks the mothers the same questions as they strap their children into slings for weighing. Are they eating the Mamba? Are they eating more than just Mamba? Are they drinking clean water? Has there been coughing, fever, or diarrhea? If the answers do not meet her expectations, she sternly tells the mothers what they need to change to make them fit her expectations.

Every day before the distribution of Mamba, Miss Gourges educates the mothers about foods that keep their children healthy and energetic even with minimal resources. She expresses how happy the mothers are with the program. They’re so grateful to see their children come alive. Unfortunately, not all children who come in qualify for the program, but they still go home with vitamins and a recommendation to an outpatient clinic. Miss Gourges follows the protocols unyieldingly saving Medika Mamba for those children who need it most.

Her formidableness allows her to make it through the day, but as she pulls me urgently to the bedside of a recently enrolled boy, I know it’s a facade. The boy is an orphan whose mother died last month. He, too, is HIV positive and already severely malnourished. Miss Gourges found him in the pediatric ward, where he was receiving milk formula as treatment for his malnutrition. She enrolled him in the Mamba program without delay and now hopes that he will regain strength and have a fighting chance. With her on his side, I have every confidence that he will survive. She’s a tough woman, a gentle heart, and an invaluable asset to MFK’s program.

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Board Visit to Haiti and Mamba Lespri

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:05:00 -0400

In the end of May, some members of the board went to Haiti for the first time; stereotypes dissipated, while new conceptions of the realities of Haiti were formed. It began with a bus that never came to deliver a car part which was later discovered not to fit. The car has been broken down for over a month. Each day brought news about the car alternatively generating hope or disappointment. The absence of the second car made accomplishing tasks for the factory a logistical mess. Not to mention it sometimes left the board members riding in the trunk. Amidst an environment that is challenging at best, every accomplishment stands out.
On May 25, MFK’s new product Mamba Lespri was successfully created and taste tested. A new type of peanut butter medicine, Mamba Lespri contains a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals per teaspoon of product. This high concentration makes it ideal for bringing the daily recommended vitamins and minerals to school children in the least possible serving size. This is an exciting development that will expand Mamba impact by ensuring continued healthy growth in older children. Progress, while slow, has infinite potential to create change.

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Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

A new addition to MFK's Agriculture Program

Thu, 20 May 2010 12:04:00 -0400

James Rhoads is MFK’s agriculture development specialist. He heads up the program to develop more and better peanuts in Haiti. This post is part of a continuing series about MFK’s agriculture programs.

A major achievement during the most recent visit from our PCRSP partners, and most personally rewarding, was getting our 2 wheel tractor up and running. I bought the tractor from another nongovernmental organization in March and have been slowly working out the kinks. Between the 15 horsepower hand-cranked diesel motor and a non-resourceful operator's manual, it had plenty of kinks, including our cranking arms. But, with the help of John, Chad and Frank, we put it to work preparing our plots and developed an interesting "peanut gallery" in the neighbor's field. At approximately US $2000, I have a lot of hope that this kind of technology will make more scaled and advanced farming a possibility and ultimately make purchasing local peanuts from Haitian farmers more advantageous.

Pictured above is agronomist Gregory Anténor shortly after the tractor was repaired.

For the purposes of training, I’m lending it to our Universite Chretienne du Nord d'Haiti agriculture school partners to learn how to use it. They purchased one to be shipped this summer. I'm basically becoming the sales rep for these things. I'm also trying to arrange a field day with another agriculture group here to talk up the tractors in the hopes of making their use more widespread.

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A Medika Mamba Update

Wed, 12 May 2010 12:04:00 -0400

Meet Briana, a formerly malnourished child who weighed only 9 pounds when she entered the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center in Cazale, Haiti. In just a matter of weeks, Medika Mamba helped increase her weight to nearly 16 pounds, an increase of nearly 75%!

In 2010, MFK and its wonderful partners have offered Medika Mamba to nearly 2,300 of Haiti's malnourished children. These are children just like Briana.

Pictured above: Briana before at 9 pounds

Pictured above: Briana after at nearly 16 pounds

Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center recently updated their blog with pictures of children currently being treated with Medika Mamba. RHFH continues to see positive results since 2009 thanks to their partnership with World Wide Village. To view the post click here.

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A Medika Mamba update from Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:03:00 -0400

Meet Jolandia, a young girl whose life has been enriched thanks to Medika Mamba. Over the past several weeks she has been receiving treatment at the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center in Cazale, Haiti.

To view the post click here.

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An update from the field on MFK's collaborative Peanut CRSP projects

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:02:00 -0400

James Rhoads is MFK’s agriculture development specialist. He heads up the program to develop more and better peanuts in Haiti. This is James’ second post in a continuing series about MFK’s agriculture programs.

Working in the agriculture sector in Haiti makes me realize how thoughtful the leaders of our country were when they set up the land grant system in the US after the Civil War. I think the US population was more than 90% rural at the time and we were an essentially agrarian society. Haiti is around 70% rural, but it is also still an essentially agrarian society and yet, there has been very little investment in building real productive capacity. This lack of investment is the reason that our collaborators with the USAID Peanut Collaborative Research and Support Program (CRSP) partner with MFK, a social enterprise, rather than the non-functioning, barely-existing state agricultural programs. Since 2008, MFK has been the in-country collaborator for the peanut specialists from the Universities of Georgia, Oklahoma State and North Carolina State, as well as their extended network of peanut industry experts and even the USDA peanut research lab.

Pictured above: Dr. Chad Godsey working with an ag technician from an Oxfam funded peanut project in one of our target grower areas.

MFK recently had two visits from people in this network, including a special visit by a group from the UGA School of Agriculture and other people from the peanut industry. They were looking into how they could offer more assistance in Haiti following the earthquake and visited several projects across the country, but also checked in on our activities. One member of this group was Sally Wells, a representative of Birdsong Peanuts who has arranged several donations for MFK, including 4000 lbs of high yielding spanish peanut seed that I have been distributing for testing among our grower areas. I think the shorter growing period for spanish peanuts (~100 days vs. ~130 days for runner peanuts) will improve profitability for growers and possibly reduce the aflatoxin problem.

The other PCRSP visit was from our more regular visitors, Drs. John Damicone and Chad Godsey, plant pathologist and agronomist from Oklahoma State and Frank Nolin, a peanut processing expert from Georgia. John, Chad and I worked on laying out trials to test some the improved cultivars, as well as the potential impacts of minimal soil fertilization. As legumes, peanuts are good crop for Haitian soils that lack nitrogen, but could possibly greatly benefit from a small amount of potassium, phosphorus or other micronutrients. Like the children who receive Medika Mamba, many of the soils in Haiti are suffering from malnutrition.

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Peanut CRSP projects are underway with Meds & Food For Kids

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:02:00 -0400

Meds & Food For Kids was chosen as Haiti’s in-country partner for two Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

This exciting and unique opportunity puts MFK in the position to work with some of the most brilliant minds in peanut farming and production. These individuals include Bob Kermerait, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia, Dan Brown, Expert in Nutritional Toxicology and Associate Professor at Cornell University, Tim Brenneman, Plant Pathologist and Professor at the University of Georgia, John Damicone, Professor of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Oklahoma State University, Chad Godsey, Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Oklahoma State University, and Christopher Butts, Agricultural Engineer.

According to Tom Stehl, MFK’s Coordinator of Operations, “We count on partnerships to make things happen and this is an incredibly valuable partnership for agricultural development.”

In order to improve markets and create opportunities for Haitian peanut farmers, the quality of Haitian peanuts must be improved. Farmers working with MFK are developing the best quality peanuts through agricultural trainings, the reduction of toxins, and field trials that control for soil preparations, seed treatments, and more.

It is important for buyers to understand the benefit of buying locally grown peanuts to support sustainable agricultural practices and long term development in Haiti. These innovative technical assistance Peanut CRSP projects funded by USAID support MFK's agricultural goals to increase yields, reduce toxin levels, and increase farmer incomes.

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Medika Mamba updates from Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:01:00 -0400

Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center recently updated their blog with pictures of children currently being treated by Medika Mamba. RHFH has been using Medika Mamba in partnership with World Wide Village since 2009 and has seen incredible results.

To read the post, click here.

A Closer Look at Meds & Food for Kids’ Agriculture Program in Haiti

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:01:00 -0500

James Rhoads is MFK’s agriculture development specialists. He heads up the program to develop more and better peanuts in Haiti. This James’ first in a continuing series about MFK’s agriculture programs.

After a year of work, I’m kicking off the first of what I hope will be a continuing series of posts about MFK agriculture programs. Apparently I timed this inaugural post well, because this is the first time that I’ve been able to get reliable data from some of our peanut trial plots!

I’ve been collaborating with the second year agronomy students at the Universite Chretienne du Nord d’Haiti (Northern Haiti Christian University) to learn about peanut production in Haiti and test a few varieties and basic inputs. The students have been very enthusiastic about working together and it’s been great for everyone involved to build some experience designing plots to help test their ideas about crops. I believe we’ve had more questions posed than we could possibly answer, but one major issue was apparently resolved.

St. Louis-based documentary filmmaker Frank Popper joined me for a visit to UCNH. Here, Frank talks with the agronomy students about the merits of peanut production in Haiti.

Because peanuts grow underground, one of the most difficult issues for peanut farmers is determining when to harvest their crop. In Haiti, farmers have been growing peanuts for generations, but when asked how to determine if a peanut plant is mature enough to harvest, they offer you a conflicted response: "It shows you it is mature when all its leaves dry up and the plant dies." In other growing conditions, this would not be true. But here in Haiti, there are several diseases that attack peanuts, dry up the leaves and, ultimately, kill the plant. If the plant does succumb to disease, then it is as mature a plant as it will ever get, so you should probably go ahead and harvest... so there is some truth to their statement. Unfortunately, these diseased peanut plants are weakened, produce fewer peanuts, are harder to harvest and probably are more likely to have aflatoxin problems (more on aflatoxin in some other post!).

At the university, we discussed these disease problems with the agronomy students to see what we could do about it. Two ways to deal with this problem are to 1) choose varieties that have been bred to have natural resistance to these diseases, and 2) spray fungicide. We tried both. We sprayed a foliar fungicide on half of the plots and not on the other. In the picture below you can see that none of the varieties that we currently have available have much resistance to the diseases in Haiti, so those plants all died. However, the plants that were protected by the fungicide were still green and growing. I just harvested the other half of the plot (2 weeks later) and will measure the results soon. This will be the first reliable data that we have been able to collect.

Our next step will be to try some of the varieties we have been sent via the ICRISAT, the global research center for peanuts and to see how few fungicide sprays we can get away with without losing too much yield.

Yet another exciting week of peanut farming in Haiti! It’s so rewarding to experience these little victories!

Universite Chretienne du Nord d'Haiti trial plots. Through testing, we learned that none of the peanut plant varieties that we currently have available have much resistance to the diseases in Haiti, so those plants died. However, the test plants that were protected by the fungicide were still green and growing.

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Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

MFK goes on the air with St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 KWMU

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:59:00 -0500

St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh interviewed MFK's Dr. Patricia Wolff, Executive Director, and Steve Taviner, Operations Officer on Wednesday, March 3 live on KWMU. Addressing the bigger picture, they talk about the organizations' long standing history as well as its current efforts of both recovery and long term development in Haiti.

To listen to the broadcast, click here.

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Nestle Makes Generous Donation to MFK, Supporting Efforts to Save Haiti’s Malnourished Children

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:59:00 -0500

Nestle S.A., the parent company of Nestle Purina PetCare, shared some amazing news with us this week. The company is generously donating approximately $280,000 to Meds & Food for Kids, supporting our work to save the lives of Haiti’s malnourished children and our commitment to long-term development. This donation is on top of the company’s worldwide donation efforts for Haiti, with employee and company donations already totaling more than $2 million in cash and products. We are so grateful to Nestle for this contribution. It will go a long way in supporting the increased production and distribution of life-saving, nutritious food in Haiti. In addition, it will help us fund Haiti’s future, with a new facility designed for safe food processing and large-scale production.

MFK Director, Dr. Wolff with Betsy Cohen, Vice President, Sustainability/Animal Welfare, Nestle Purina PetCare

Click here to read the St. Louis Business Journal coverage of this news.

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MFK's holistic development approach is featured on KSDK

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:58:00 -0500

On February 18, 2010 KSDK's Casey Nolen highlighted MFK's holistic development efforts. Nolen spent about two weeks in the aftermath of the quake chronicling events in northern Haiti.

To read the full story at KSDK click here.

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St. Louisans Working to Feed and Teach in Haiti

By Casey Nolen

KSDK -- Even before an influx of earthquake victims were airlifted in for medical treatment at Hospital Sacre Coeur, many in rural Milot, Haiti were already living crisis. With no industry to speak of most grow or raise what they eat and most don't have enough.

Doctors at Sacre Coeur estimate that children in Milot have about a one in four chance of dying before the age of two from hunger. And the story is much the same across all of Haiti. Before the earthquake, an estimated 250,000 children were living with malnutrition -- a number now expected to rise.

But about an hour's drive from Milot, in the city of Cap Haitian, an organization founded by a St. Louisan is working to reverse the rate of hunger and help those it can harm the most.

"Children under two who are malnourished are forever brain damaged and they have to be rescued as soon as possible and somebody's got to do it," says Washington Universitypediatrician Dr. Patricia Wolff, who leads an effort called Meds & Food For Kids.

In a house turned factory, MFK churns out highly enriched peanut butter known as Medika Mamba at a rate of more than 13 tons a month. With a long shelf life and no need for cooking, it can save a starving child's life in a matter of weeks.

"We've been making it really fast to give to people like Milot who could use it for the post-op patients even if they don't have any mal nourished children," says Dr. Wolff.

But this effort began long before the earthquake. Dr. Wolff has worked in Haiti for more than six years, with a long term commitment to long lasting change.

"The future is not in rescue," she says. "The future is in development."

Most of the ingredients for Medika Mamba come from Haiti which allows Dr. Wolff's operation to hire and educate local workers and train local farmers.

"Before they started working for us six years ago they hadn't seen running water or electricity," says Dr. Wolff.

"Nobody's invested in agriculture in this country since the end of the colonial period," says Jamie Rhoads, who works with MKF training farmers. "So their production methods are stone aged. They've got a machete and a hoe and bad seed and they do the best they can."

Meeting the immediate needs for food, and investing in a people that Wolff's says would rather learn than be rescued repeatedly.

"Oh yeah, for sure, we're making a lot of difference. But we're not anywhere near the end. We really have to pour a lot more effort in to it," says Wolff. "And we invite everyone everywhere to come and help us do it because it's a big, big, big job."

***

Update from Haiti: The New Reality of MFK’s Work in Post-quake Haiti (2/10/10)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:57:00 -0500

Dr. Pat Wolff and others from the Meds & Food for Kids team are on the ground in Cap-Haitian, approximately 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince. They’ve been providing regular updates via email on their efforts to get Medika Mamba into the hands of those who need it most. On Wednesday, Dr. Wolff provided a glimpse into the new reality of MFK’s work in post-quake Haiti.

In Port au Prince, the smell of bodies is everywhere. Finding food and water is a daily struggle. Our coordinator, Papillon, briefly went to Miami to receive treatment for his arm injury and then returned to Port au Prince to help out as best he can. He has led us to groups of people who are under the radar of the big relief agencies, but need help finding food. One kilogram of Medika Mamba can feed five kids for a day. So far we have distributed the equivalent of 25,000 child days of food.

We’ve been attending various meetings with the UN and the Haitian government once or twice a week in Cap-Haitien where we hear rumors and some actual facts, but it’s only a week or so later that we’re able to figure out which is which. For example, we heard that the U.S. Navy was taking over the port of Cap-Haitien. That was two weeks ago and it has not happened. Then we heard that the capital and the government of Haiti were moving to Cap-Haitien to occupy the new buildings that were built for the Cap-Haitien government just outside of town. That does not seem to be happening either.

We also heard that huge tent cities were going to be built for Port au Prince refugees. That does not seem to be materializing. Incredibly thousands and thousands of refugees have just been incorporated into the homes and life of the city. School just reopened this week.

Sacre Coeur Hospital in Milot, founded and funded by CRUDEM, has done an extraordinary job of bringing in the necessary resources and professionals to respond to the medical needs after the earthquake. They have expanded capacity by converting the lobby to accommodate patient beds, converting a nearby school into a hospital and setting up a tent city of MASH-like tents for patient care. To supply this huge operation they have successfully imported tons of medical supplies.

Because of the large number of spinal cord injuries that happened in the quakes, Sacre Coeur has many patients with quadriplegia or paraplegia. After several weeks, any improvements among these patients will happen very slowly. A newly built and never used UK Baptist hospital about 10 miles from Sacre Coeur offered to open their facility for the longer-term care of these spinal cord patients. They had no equipment or supplies though -- just space, beds, doctors and nurses. I offered to go to Milot to find whether there were medical supplies available for sharing.

I found an American nun who is also a pediatric ER doctor at Johns Hopkins whom I have known for a few years. She introduced me to Celia, who offered to make all of my dreams come true. Celia walked me through tent after tent and outdoor pile after pile of antibiotics, wound dressings, IV paraphernalia, bladder catheters, etc. etc.

MFK Director Dr. Wolff choosing medical supplies to take to the quadriplegic unit

I was loading all of this into the Meds & Food for Kids Toyota when the Medical Director of Sacre Coeur hospital asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was helping to supply the hospital where the Sacre Coeur spinal cord injured patients were being transferred for long term care. After a few minutes of discussion, it was clear that he was generally feeling that his authority was being usurped by this invasion of do-gooder American and UK doctors and nurses. Of course he wanted to share, but he was responsible for all of these imports and he needed me to make a list of what I was taking. This was very reasonable and I complied. Then we took off for the drive to the brand new, never-been-used UK Baptist Hospital with our loot.

Truck loaded with medical supplies en route to the UK Babtist Hospital

When we arrived, there were four spinal cord injured patients in air conditioning!!! And two more in an ambulance on the way. We unloaded and stacked the boxes, had a short discussion with the doctor and nurses and took off. If I can’t find a rehabilitation specialist to write some protocols for treatment of these patients, I guess I will be writing the protocols to help the Haitian doctors out. Are there any such specialists looking for a trip to the tropics immediately?

MFK Director Dr. Wolff delivering medications and other needed supplies

On the way back to the factory, we stopped at the orphanage and school of the Sisters Salesian de Don Bosco. The sisters arrived on our doorstep a week ago because they needed food. We sent a letter to the logistics guy at the World Food Program and that did the trick. So this week the sisters returned with their water problems. Seems that everybody gets a stomach ache from their well and they cannot afford to buy bottled water. Luckily, we have volunteer Jerome Flogel here. Jerome took the opportunity to briefly escape from Duluth, MN where he is a water consultant and a diesel mechanic specialist. He’s been completely overhauling our two Toyota trucks and mentoring our Haitian mechanic.

We put Jerome on the nuns’ water case and he is now discerning whether the well is infected or just has very high mineral content. We are all happy to be of service and the nuns are delighted.

With deep gratitude for the huge support that we have received from all of you,

Pat

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

“Medika Mamba Challenge” is underway!

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:57:00 -0500

Last week, Novus International spearheaded the “Medika Mamba Challenge,” a campaign to raise $100,000 for Meds & Food for Kids by Friday, February 12, 2010. In collaboration with World Trade Center St. Louis, Novus hopes to galvanize the St. Louis business community to support the production and distribution of Medika Mamba, the life-saving therapeutic food that MFK makes in Haiti, with Haitian labor.

Various media outlets picked up the story and have raised awareness about the campaign. Please click on any of the links below to read the full story.

St. Louis Business Journal
St. Louis Post Dispatch
AgriMarketing
Pork Magazine

Help us make the campaign successful! Contribute to the campaign by clicking here.

Dr. Lora Iannotti, MFK featured on St. Louis Public Radio (2/4/10)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:56:00 -0500

St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh interviewed MFK's Tom Stehl during the show "St. Louisans in Haiti." The other guests, Dr. Lora Iannotti, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Washington University's Brown School of Social Work, and Charles Gulas, Dean of the School of Health Profession at Maryville University, discussed their experiences in Port-au-Prince during and after the devastating earthquake.

To listen to the broadcast, click here.

MFK recovers shipping container; Critical raw materials will sustain increased production of Medika Mamba

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:56:00 -0500

On January 18, we shared news that we feared a container was lost that included many of the raw materials necessary to make Medika Mamba. This container had arrived by ship just three days before the devastating earthquake. It contained supplies of milk powder, vegetable oil, shipping boxes, and a small quantity of donated peanut paste.

Early reports after the quake showed the Port-au-Prince seaport was completely destroyed. Media coverage and correspondence with our shipping company stoked our fears. We immediately raced to replace the materials and prevent any stockouts, thus ensuring we could meet the increasing demand for Medika Mamba and treat the growing number of malnourished children. Our valued suppliers demonstrated their support for the quake victims and generously replaced the contents free of charge.

On Wednesday, January 27, we received the incredible news that our container of materials not only survived the quake, but had been expedited through Haitian customs. On Monday morning, February 1, we received the container in Cap-Haitien. The cavalry arrived!

MFK employee Jean-Marie Petition unloads an incoming bag of raw materials

From the perspective of Sandra Koch, Meds & Food for Kids’ shipping representative, “It is an absolute miracle. Your container had been written off.”

MFK's Stanley Fils-Aime loads fresh supplies of milk powder into the depot

We went back to each of our suppliers and shared the good news that we had recovered this container. Keeping with the spirit of generosity, all of them have said MFK can keep all of the donated materials. Thanks to these donations, we are in a stronger position to sustain our increased production schedule. We are working as quickly as we can to get our life-saving food into the hands of Haiti’s malnourished children and others who are vulnerable after the quake.

MFK's fully stocked raw material depot in Cap-Haitien

Please join us in thanking the following suppliers for their generosity and support: Fortitech (vitamins/minerals), Smurfit-Stone (shipping boxes), the U.S. Dairy Export Council (milk powder), Land O'Lakes (milk powder), Darigold/James Farrell (milk powder), Hoogwegt (milk powder), Stratas Foods (vegetable oil), International Food Products (vegetable oil and milk powder), Golden Peanuts, the American Peanut Council, Lance Snacks (peanut paste), and Fresh King (warehouse space). A special note of gratitude to Sally Wells (Birdsong Peanuts) and Stephanie Grunenfelder (American Peanut Council) for their tremendous leadership and inspiring generosity during these adverse times.

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Novus, World Trade Center launch the "Medika Mamba Challenge"--A campaign for MFK and Haiti's malnourished kids (2/3/10)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:55:00 -0500

To support the "Medika Mamba Challenge" campaign, click here.

***

“Medika Mamba,” a fortified, peanut-butter-based, ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF could well be one of the most effective life-savers among victims of the disastrous earthquakes in Haiti. Three St. Louis-area organizations are working hard to ensure that this lifeline continues to be available during the disaster relief period and beyond.

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) is the focus of a Challenge Campaign launched today by Novus International in partnership with the World Trade Center Saint Louis. The goal of the challenge campaign is to raise funds by February 12 to produce as much Medika Mamba as possible to help the injured and malnourished Haitian children and their families.

"This partnership is another example of the inspiring generosity of the St. Louis community," said MFK Executive Director Dr. Patricia Wolff in an email from Cap-Haitien, Haiti. "The funds raised from this campaign will save the lives of Haiti's most vulnerable citizens--its malnourished children."

The latest death toll in Haiti is estimated at 150,000, with thousands more buried in mass graves. An estimated 2 million Haitians are homeless or living in make-shift shelters, and 250,000 are in dire need of urgent care, according to government reports.

In support of this initiative, Novus International President and Chief Executive Officer Thad Simons issued communication to all worldwide Novus employees urging them to make earthquake relief donations to MFK or similar organizations committed to assisting Haiti from disaster through to rebuilding.

Novus International, a St. Charles-based company and a leading developer of animal health and nutrition programs for the poultry, pork, beef, dairy, aquaculture, and companion animal industries worldwide, made the first corporate donation of $10,000 to the Challenge Campaign. Additionally, Novus will match employee donations, dollar-for-dollar.

“The daily challenges of Haiti’s children and their families are enormous and saddening” Simons said. “This disaster relief effort led by MFK will help to provide healthy, nutritious food for injured and malnourished Haitian children, whose lives have been torn apart. It is an honor for our team at Novus to support the noble efforts of this organization.”

Novus International’s Simons believes that partnering with the World Trade Center Saint Louis is a pivotal way of engaging the international trade community in supporting a local non-profit. Simons said the World Trade Center Saint Louis is a huge asset in this effort because of its international business contacts, market research and global influence.

“The Haiti disaster is unprecedented and needs the support from all of us," said World Trade Center Saint Louis Executive Director Tim Nowak. "As an international trade organization, World Trade Center Saint Louis has a civic responsibility to reach out and help the Haitian community during this important relief effort.”

World Trade Center Saint Louis’ operating license is granted by the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) in New York, and serves most of Missouri and Southern Illinois. Its goal is to enhance international trade, promote local economic development, and ultimately foster peace and stability through trade.

St. Louis area residents, businesses and corporations are urged to donate to MFK by going to the "Medika Mamba Challenge" site. To support the challenge campaign, click here.

***

"Coins for Haiti's Kids"...A Turnkey Way to Help the Children of Haiti

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:54:00 -0500

During the past two weeks, we’ve been amazed by the number of people who have contacted us, wanting to join in the fight to save the lives of Haiti’s malnourished children after the quake. We’re grateful for every bit of support, but it’s always inspiring when young people want to contribute. Several schools and youth groups have asked us what their kids can do for the citizens of Haiti. One of the fastest and easiest ways for kids to raise funds is to host a coin drive. To help make it as easy as possible for these groups, we created a turnkey fundraising program called “Coins for Haiti’s Kids.”

If you’re thinking of ways to raise money for Haiti, please consider “Coins for Haiti’s Kids.” We’ve put together all the materials you’ll need to get started. This includes an overview of the fundraiser and who will benefit from your efforts, a fact sheet on the serious issue of childhood malnutrition in Haiti and what MFK is doing to save children’s lives, and a letter to send to parents explaining it all. We also created pre-made labels so all you need to do is print them out and stick them onto a jar or plastic container.

Thanks for considering “Coin for Kids.” Your support goes toward more than just short-term rescue. It goes toward rebuilding Haiti for the long-term.

For information sheet, click here.

For pre-made labels, click here.

Update from Haiti: Meds & Food for Kids Reaches Port-au-Prince Depot (1/28/10)

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:54:00 -0500

Driving through downtown, the devastation was overwhelming – the entire city resembles Europe after WWII. Roads are beginning to be cleared and the survivors are carrying on with their lives, but the remaining population lives in tents, on the streets, and depends on the minimal medical and emergency food and water stations scattered through the rubble.

Finding one's way is bizarre, as all physical landmarks have disappeared. We drove by the Ministry of Health where, prior to the quake, MFK would participate in monthly nutrition meetings. The entire building had been razed.

Photo showing the remains of Haiti's Ministry of Health.

Arriving at the MFK depot, our building was miraculously untouched, and still secure, but the neighbouring school had collapsed. The stocks of Medika Mamba survived, though they took a tumble. Our Depot Manager, Mr. Louis Gerard Papillon, was hit by falling concrete, and is being treated for injuries in Miami.

MFK's depot (right) was unscathed while the adjacent school was destroyed.

Before we arrived in Port-au-Prince, we spent a week of frantic and difficult coordination and arranged for our client organizations to send trucks and meet us at the depot to collect the urgently needed Medika Mamba. Again, by a miracle, all showed up. Within two hours, a volunteer and I managed to load over 3 tons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food into three vehicles.

Steve Taviner, preparing for client organizations to come pick up Medika Mamba supplies, hangs the MFK sign on the outside of the depot. School debris on right.

GHESKIO, a hospital normally specializing in HIV treatment, but now an emergency site for over 4000 patients, took 420 kg; Children's Nutrition Project of Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake, picked up 1600 kg (enough to treat children and pregnant mothers for over one month); MFK and Carwyn then took over one more ton of Medika Mamba to two different orphanages, and to the Hôpital Petits Frères et Soeurs St. Damien on the outskirts of Port au Prince. The hospital, next to the U.S. embassy, has been converted into the main transfer site of the many hospitals and orphanages in Port au Prince destroyed by the quake. Dr. Rodriguez, a volunteer in emergency medicine from the University of Wisconsin, took in the supplies and showed us around. He explained that the hospital is receiving more than 10 new children requiring emergency care per hour.

Dr. Rodriguez, a volunteer in emergency medicine from the University of Wisconsin, points out delivered Medika Mamba at the Hôpital Petits Frères et Soeurs St. Damien.

The team arrived back in Cap Haitien at 11 p.m., and is planning further trips the coming week to ensure that Meds & Food for Kids’ contributions to relief efforts continue.”

***
Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Dr. Iannotti, MFK featured in Washington University Record (1/28/10)

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:53:00 -0500

To read the story at the Washington University website, click here.

***

Brown School professor survives Haiti earthquake
Shifts focus to preventing further public health disaster

The Record
By JESSICA MARTIN
jessica_martin@wustl.edu
January 26, 2010

Two days before the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Lora Iannotti, Ph.D., nutrition and public health expert from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, traveled to Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti, to continue her research about undernutrition and disease prevention in young children. The massive tremor changed her focus from research for the future to survival, with her team helping children in the aftermath of the quake.

On Jan. 15, Iannotti, who has been working in Haiti since 1990, was evacuated back to the U.S. “I started to focus on the major public health aftershocks of the earthquake,” she says. “If we think carefully now about what this phase will bring, many more lives will be saved.”

Iannotti says that there are some immediate actions that can be taken to prevent more lost lives and protect livelihoods.

“Priority should be given to sufficient supplies of both drinking water and water for washing, and to optimal sanitation conditions for the prevention of diarrhea,” she says. “Oral rehydration therapy and zinc should be widely available to help those who succumb to diarrhea to recover.

“Care should also be given to the kinds of foods delivered to people, ensuring that not only basic energy needs are met but also micronutrient nutrition is addressed. Ready-to-use supplemental and therapeutic foods like Medika Mamba in Haiti are dense in both calories and micronutrients and resistant to bacterial contamination, and consequently, should be used for preventing undernutrition and recovery from severe malnutrition.”

Medika Mamba is a nutrient-rich mixture of peanuts, sugar, oil, vitamins, minerals and powdered milk made locally with locally produced ingredients. It is distributed in plastic containers for families to feed their children at home and can be stored for several months. It is typically given to children between 6 months and 5 years old. After starting to eat the ready-to-use therapeutic food, children start to show visible signs of improvement about 1-2 weeks. The cost of six weeks of treatment — enough to return a child to health — is less than $100 in U.S. currency.

Patricia Wolff, M.D., associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, provides Medika Mamba, or peanut-butter medicine, to malnourished children in Cap Haitien, Haiti, on the north coast, through her nonprofit organization, Meds & Food for Kids. Wolff, who divides her time between St. Louis and Haiti, returned to Cap Haitien soon after the earthquake to oversee the continued production of Medika Mamba.

Public health realities in Haiti

Deaths due to diarrhea were already high in Haiti, but with the earthquake there is tremendous potential for increases. “One-quarter of Haitian children are stunted with low height-for-age and over one-fifth are underweight with low weight-for-age,” Iannotti says. “We know now with certainty that undernutrition predisposes children to dying from infectious disease, especially diarrheal diseases. Being underweight doubles a child’s risk of death due to diarrhea, and for those severely malnourished, this risk increases by 3.4 to 9.5 fold.

“Sanitation conditions and access to clean water will deteriorate and increase the risk of cholera outbreaks and acute diarrhea and dysentery from E. coli, salmonella, and other pathogens,” she says.

According to Iannotti, another pre-earthquake statistic foreshadows more silent public health menaces. In Haiti, over 70% of children less than 2 years are anemic; nearly half (46%) of women of reproductive age are anemic.

“Anemia in developing countries usually results from a lack of iron in the diet, parasitic infection including helminthes and malaria, and chronic inflammation,” she says. “Blood loss also causes anemia. Anemia can have many short- and long-term health and livelihood consequences, such as compromised cognitive and physical development in young children, poor birth outcomes in pregnant women, and in severe cases, increased risk of mortality in certain populations."

Education and socio-economic development are vitally important over the long-term

The health and well-being of Haitians will depend on long-term commitments to improving public health problems such as nutrition, education and poverty reduction.

“One of the most difficult scenes to witness the morning after the earthquake were the fallen schools,” she says. “Most immediately, it was hard to imagine their descent and agonizing to both see and imagine what lie beneath. Now, with some distance and time, I am also reflecting on what this means for the later phases of this crisis. In a country where one in five people receive no education at all and only 40 percent make it through primary school, the implications of even more lost education is depressing.

“Education is linked to every positive health and livelihood outcome. Restoring these buildings and creating educational opportunities must be a priority.”

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Getting Medika Mamba to Those Who Need it Most Following the Earthquake

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:52:00 -0500

Dr. Pat Wolff and others from the Meds & Food for Kids team are on the ground in Cap-Haitien, approximately 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince. They’ve been providing regular updates via email on their efforts to get Medika Mamba into the hands of those who need it most following the quake. Over the weekend, Steve Taviner, MFK’s Operations Officer, told us these two stories, and shared some pictures.

Medika Mamba sent by ambulance from Cap Haitien to Port-au-Prince Orphanage

Carwyn Hill, from the Baptist Convention of Quartier Morin, took 200 kg of donated Medika Mamba on one of his daily trips from Cap Haitien to Port-au-Prince for an orphanage he had identified with urgent needs.

The orphanage had lost its building during the quake, and five children and two staff died in the disaster. When Carywn arrived at their relocated site on Friday morning, there were 70 children with one day's food left. Medika Mamba was a welcome sight.

Medika Mamba delivered to Sacre Coeur Hospital, Milot

Last week, the team took 200kg of Medika Mamba out to the hospital in Milot, a city near Cap Haitien. This hospital is serving as an overflow trauma center for quake victims. Patients are arriving from Port-au-Prince by U.S. military helicopters or by car.

Picture 1: A patient is rushed from a helicopter across the courtyard of a school converted into an emergency hospital in Milot, near Cap Haitien.

Picture 2: Steve unloading Medika Mamba to a Haitian boy scout volunteer for use in Milot hopsital.

Picture 3: Medika Mamba being taken to storage.

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Washington University's Dr. Lora Iannotti, MFK featured on KSDK, NewsChannel 5

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:52:00 -0500

Professor works to feed Haitian children's greatest needs

At her Kirkwood home, Dr. Lora Iannotti has her hands full keeping score with three kids of her own. But for the last 20 years, she's been working to improve the scores of thousands of Haitian children who have fallen off the charts when it comes to nutrition.

MFK's Tom Stehl featured in Des Moines Register article (1/26/10)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:51:00 -0500

The Des Moines Register featured MFK and Des Moines-native Tom Stehl in an article in Tuesday's newspaper.

To read the story at the Des Moines Register website, click here.

***

Iowan at St. Louis nonprofit helps nourish Haiti children

Des Moines Register
By REID FORGRAVE
rforgrave@dmreg.com
January 26, 2010

Let's be clear: There's nothing good about the situation in Haiti. But disaster can bring opportunity — and that's where Tom Stehl comes in.

The 31-year-old graduate of Des Moines Hoover High School and Drake University works for Meds and Food for Kids, a St. Louis nonprofit founded by a professor of clinical pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine of St. Louis.

Its goal: Save the lives of malnourished Haitian children. Its method: Medika Mamba, an energy-dense superfood, translated in Haitian Creole to mean "peanut-butter medicine."

The food is central to a program aimed at lifting Haitian children out of a malnutrition epidemic that's long plagued the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It has the consistency of honey and the taste of peanut butter. It's made of peanut butter, sugar, vegetable oil, milk powder and a vitamin and mineral compound.

Meds and Food for Kids produces 6,610 pounds a week in Haiti. The amount is enough to treat some 300 malnourished children; it is distributed regularly to health clinics across the nation.

The organization also encourages long-term development by using raw materials - mostly peanuts, which are grown by the poorest of Haiti's poor - from small-scale farmers, and by using Haitian labor.

"Part of my heart is there, and it's hard not to be on the ground, but this is an opportunity for us to get the story out when people care about Haiti," said Stehl, operations coordinator for the nonprofit.

Stehl has visited Haiti 20 times the past two years.

"After these numerous waves of crises hit Haiti, we have to ask where to go from here, and how the country can even start to rebuild itself," he said. "This can be a centerpiece of that answer."

Process begins when child goes to clinic

Here's how the program works: The parent of a malnourished child takes the child to a health clinic. Nurses take the child's height and weight and determine whether the child should be admitted.

The child gets Amoxicillin and an anti-worm drug called Albendazole, then is sent home with 6.6 pounds of Medika Mamba. After two weeks on Medika Mamba, the child returns for a check-up, then is given more Medika Mamba.

The process continues until the child reaches proper height and weight.

The program has grown rapidly. The program has reached 13,000 malnourished children since 2004. In 2008, some 4,000 Haitian children were put through the regimen, then another 5,500 in 2009.

That's not much, Stehl said.

"There are hundreds of thousands of malnourished children in Haiti, and we strive to reach them all," he said. "For children who are so unfortunate to have fallen into the pit of malnutrition, it's just awful."

When the earthquake struck, the nonprofits' stateside administrators wondered about how their operations in Haiti stood.

Overall, Meds and Foods for Kids came out relatively unscathed. Its 5,000-square-foot facility, about 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince, was fine, although the supervisor was injured when a wall fell on him.

But a container with $80,000 worth of raw materials for Medika Mamba was in a Haitian seaport when the earthquake hit. The container was lost - a big deal for an organization with a $500,000 annual budget.

Suppliers pledged to replace the materials free of charge, and now Stehl is working on getting the materials into bordering Dominican Republican, across the damaged roads of Haiti, and to the production facility.

Nation is among least-developed

Malnutrition was widespread in Haiti before the earthquake.

Haiti is one of the least-developed countries in the world, ranking 149th among the world's 182 nations, according to the United Nations Human Development Index. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 58 percent of Haiti's 9 million people are undernourished.

Stehl knows the earthquake will likely make the malnutrition picture in Haiti a bit darker.

Meds and Food for Kids is currently working on a relationship with the Seed Science Center at Iowa State University to research peanut seed varieties that could better work in Haiti's poor soil, and the organization is hoping to expand its Haitian operations. It had embarked on a $1.5 million capital campaign before the earthquake to build a larger production facility.

But the point isn't just saving individual lives in Haiti by pumping malnourished kids full of nutrient-dense food. Meds and Food for Kids aims to ensure the next generation of Haitians has less of a societal problem with malnutrition.

That, Stehl knows, is what takes work.

"It's not food aid," Stehl said. "We have to keep in mind the kids this is targeted to, the severely malnourished children between 6 months and 5 years. We're not dropping this stuff out of an airplane."

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

St. Louis Business Journal talks of MFK and Oprah

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:49:00 -0500

St. Louis Business Journal reporter Kelsey Volkmann published a post on her blog today about Meds & Food for Kids. Wednesday's Oprah Winfrey show featured footage from one of MFK's videos about malnutrition and Haiti. To read the full posting, click here.

***

Film Shows Meds & Food for Kids in Haiti

St. Louis Business Journal

Kelsey Volkmann
January 21, 2010

If you caught the Oprah Winfrey show Wednesday, you saw footage from a documentary shot by local filmmakers about Dr. Patricia Wolff’s Meds & Food for Kids and its work to combat malnutrition in Haiti.

Documentarians Lori Dowd and Frank Popper have headed back to the poor island country to continue filming their movie about St. Louis-based Meds & Food for Kids and its efforts to help earthquake victims.

In early 2009, Dowd, vice president for program development at Avatar Studios in St. Louis, approached Wolff, a pediatrician in private practice and associate clinical professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, about shooting a documentary on the organization’s distribution of Medika Mamba, an enriched peanut paste. The ready-to-use therapeutic food not only helps starving children but also puts Haitians to work, including 65 farmers.

In March 2009, with a travel allowance of $5,000, Dowd and Popper traveled to Haiti and shot 50 hours of footage over the course of 10 days.

The production team at Avatar spent two months and about $60,000 in donated work and resources to make a short documentary that will be used to raise money to complete the film. Avatar’s senior editor, Scott Betz, edited the 10-minute short, and Avatar’s sound designer, Jim MacMorran produced the soundtrack.

In the movie, Wolff examines a 12-month-old boy who weighs only 11 pounds. “It’s really almost 100 years ago here,” she says.

Wolff is currently in Haiti, along with volunteer Steve Tillery, a senior member of law firm Korein Tillery, part of Meds & Food for Kids' disaster response team. The peanut paste is the “very best thing for children,” Wolff says in the film. “It’s bringing them back from half-dead.”

Watch the documentary here.

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

MFK featured in St. Louis Post Dispatch article (1/22/10)

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:51:00 -0500

The St. Louis Post Dispatch featured Meds & Food for Kids on Friday, January 22nd. Not only is the "weather good", as Dr. Wolff says in the article, but MFK is producing Medika Mamba in its Cap-Haitian factory.

To read the story at the St. Louis Post Dispatch website, click here

***.

St. Louis nonprofit works to feed Haiti victims
Haiti Dispatch
Doug Moore
Friday, Jan. 22, 2010

At the Meds & Food for Kids factory in Cap-Haitien on Haiti's northern coast, founder Dr. Patricia Wolff of St. Louis is seeing the devastating effects of last week's Port-au-Prince earthquake make their way in her direction.

Cities that escaped quake damage throughout Haiti are playing host to hundreds of victims who arrive in need of food, shelter and medical care. Cap-Haitien, about 80 miles away from the epicenter in Port-au-Prince, is no different.

"I just had a visit from a Baptist minister who says he has 39 kids with kwashiorkor (malnutrition from lack of protein) about 10 miles from here," Wolff, a pediatrician, said by e-mail on Thursday. "I will visit in the next day or two."

Wolff, a professor of clinical pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, founded the nonprofit Meds & Food for Kids in 2003 and has been in Haiti since Sunday overseeing production of Medika Mamba, a mixture of peanuts, powdered milk, oil and vitamins. Demand for the product is spiking, she said, as victims struggle to find food. Medika Mamba can be served out of the container without any preparation.

On Thursday, two truckloads of Medika Mamba were sent to a Baptist mission and to St. Damien Hospital outside of Port-au-Prince, as workers at the factory made another 1,100 pounds for distribution.

"But we're running out of boxes and have to fix the car before it will tolerate the trip all the way to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) to pick up the boxes," Wolff said in a message sent from her iPhone.

Wolff, who generally splits her time between Haiti and St. Louis, will likely extend her two-week stay well into February.

Wolff said that today, she will visit a gymnasium where some of the victims have been relocated and talk with the mayor about needs.

"On the plus side," Wolff said, "the weather is good here."

Donations to Wolff's nonprofit can be made through the website, mfkhaiti.org, or by calling 314-420-1634.

***

Meds & Food for Kids saves the lives of Haiti's malnourished children by producing and distributing highly nutritious foods, including Medika Mamba, a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Because of its commitment to Haiti's long-term development, MFK produces Medika Mamba in Haiti, with Haitian labor, and with many Haitian raw materials.

Survivors stream into Cap-Haitian as MFK continues making Medika Mamba (1/22/10)

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:50:00 -0500

As predicted, the second wave of this crisis is hitting Haiti. While the epicenter of the quake may have been near Port-au-Prince, the after-effects are putting an incredible strain on the entire country. Dr. Pat Wolff and others from the MFK team are on the ground in Cap-Haitian, approximately 150 miles north of Port-au-Prince. Their updates share a story of streets teeming with refugees, a lack fuel, no electricity and no services for the hungry.

"They are shipping thousands of earthquake survivors from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitian," Pat Wolff said in an email. "Cap-Haitian's soccer stadium has now become a refugee camp. I've never seen anything like this in my career."

Yes, we have challenges (the now-destroyed port perhaps being the biggest), but the heart of our day-to-day operations remains the same. Just as we did before January 12, we’re working with the local farmers to source our peanuts, we’re manufacturing the Medika Mamba in our Haitian plant, and we’re getting our product into the hands of our partners and saving the lives of malnourished children. Because we believe that “business as usual” (if there is such a thing after an event like this) is key to Haiti’s recovery.

MFK partner and earthquake survivor Dr. Iannotti returns home, pens op-ed piece

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:48:00 -0500

Dr. Iannotti, Washington University Assistant Professor of Public Health, was in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake struck to promote a research study with Meds & Food for Kids. She survived “by chance alone.”

Dr. Iannotti documents her experiences—-and the ensuing public health crisis—-in an op-ed that was released today. She mentions the imperative to get Medika Mamba in the hands of Haiti’s swelling ranks of malnourished children.

***

Haiti's darkness could dawn a brighter future
By Lora IanNotti
01/21/2010

By chance alone, I survived the devastating earthquake in Haiti. I happened to be eating an early dinner with colleagues at a patio restaurant instead of in our guest house, which was leveled.

I was in Port-au-Prince and rural Leogane, also ravaged, to conduct research on malnourished young children. After the quake struck, our small team of nutritionists made our way to Doctors Without Borders to help dress wounds, fill syringes and make cardboard splints for the broken bodies of thin children with frightened, vacant eyes.

Instead of imagining their futures in strong, well-nourished bodies, we could only wish for their survival.

That's still my dream — and one we can achieve if we also see this tragedy as an opportunity to rebuild lives and Haiti, where I've lived and worked over the last 20 years.

In my view, this crisis will unfold in three distinct phases. The first, of acute emergency care, is over; 70,000, perhaps thousands more, did not survive.

The second, which we're now experiencing, is driven by basic needs for clean water, food and shelter. Many more will not survive this phase, even as humanitarian workers labor around the clock, since Haiti's infrastructure nearly was non-existent before the quake.

The final phase will be a crisis of public health — both my area of expertise and my deepest concern.

By preparing for this crisis now, we'll save the lives of several thousand young Haitian children and alter the life prospects of hundreds of thousands more.

Prior to the earthquake, one in four children was stunted and one in five was underweight. We know with certainty that these forms of undernutrition predispose children to infectious disease mortality, especially diarrhea. Being underweight doubles the risk of death from diarrhea and, in severely malnourished children, increases the risk by three- to nine-fold. Haitian children also suffer from inadequate zinc nutrition, which is critical for recovery from diarrhea. Sanitation conditions and access to clean water are deteriorating rapidly in Haiti and heightening the chance for outbreaks of cholera and other forms of acute diarrhea and dysentery.

Anemia is another major public health concern in Haiti: roughly two-thirds of children, and nearly half of women, are anemic.

Anemia in developing countries usually results from a lack of iron in the diet, parasitic infection, including helminthes and malaria, and chronic inflammation. Anemia leads to compromised cognitive and physical development in young children, poor birth outcomes in pregnant women and, in some severe cases, increased risk of mortality.

The night after the earthquake, we slept in an open field in Leogane along with Haitian families, many of whom were lamenting the loss of Mardi Gras celebrations and the closing of their schools.

I had seen devastated schools, trying hard not to imagine what lied beneath the rubble, but that night I realized that this, too, was a public health crisis.

Anyone working in public health knows that education strongly correlates with every positive health and livelihood outcome. Only two in five Haitian children graduate from primary school, while one in five receives no education at all. But that was before the quake, before their schools were felled.

What can be done? We must improve sanitation and, of course, ensure access to clean water for drinking and washing to prevent diarrhea. Those who succumb to diarrhea should receive oral rehydration therapy and zinc. Foods provided should meet both basic energy and micronutrient needs. Particularly promising is ready-to-use Medika Mamba, a peanut concoction manufactured in northern Haiti that is dense in both calories and micronutrients and resistant to bacterial contamination, making it ideal for preventing undernutrition and recovery from severe malnutrition.

Over the long term, we must persist in our efforts to improve nutrition, vaccinate, de-worm, prevent infectious disease, promote education and reduce poverty in Haiti.

Thanks to the superb efforts of the U.S. embassy and military, I was able to return home. My experience in Haiti last week is beyond description, an unspeakable horror. But what terrifies me more is that the world will forget this small, already desperately poor country as it now faces the exponentially worsened problems of public health.

Like the tireless, unheralded Haitian doctors and nurses I briefly worked alongside, let's make a commitment to stay with them through many more dark nights to come — and through the dawn of their historic opportunity to thrive.

Lora Iannotti is an assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. She also is a scholar at the University's Institute for Public Health.

***

Port-au-Prince seaport destroyed, MFK container feared lost (1/18/10)

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:48:00 -0500

MFK founder and executive director Dr. Pat Wolff is on the ground in Haiti. She and the rest of the MFK team are providing a clearer picture of the humanitarian crisis unfolding after the quake. Just today we were included on an email that Steve Tillery, long time MFK supporter and volunteer, sent to friends and family.

…I am in Haiti now. Things here are not really describable. Refugees from Port au Prince are pouring into Cap Haitien by the thousands. There is no fuel for planes, no electricity and no services for the hungry. Buses and trucks from Port au Prince are lined up hundreds at a time waiting for fuel to return for more refugees. The streets are swarming with people. When I got off of my plane over the weekend I handed a small bag of food to a desperate looking little boy who was begging. Within seconds literally dozens of little children came out of nowhere and ripped the bag to pieces as they clamored for something-anything- to eat. Chaos reigns.

We are among the fortunate – our facilities are unscathed and our staff is safe. Not only will we continue our work to cure malnutrition, we will ramp up our efforts. Our work is more important than ever.

However, in the past 48 hours we’ve learned the main seaport in Port-au-Prince was completely destroyed. This CNN report shows the devastation. As a result, MFK has lost a shipping container carrying $80,000 of raw materials. We are urgently seeking public donations to help us replace those materials. The fundraising is underway. Generous donors, including Scottrade, have stepped forward to make possible new shipments of Mamba ingredients to other ports in Haiti. But more money is urgently needed to make these emergency efforts possible. Please donate now.

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) featured on St. Louis Fox 2 News in the Morning (1/14/10)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:47:00 -0500

St. Louis, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - Meds & Food for Kids is a non-profit organization based in St. Louis. The goal is to make a high protein food paste from peanuts (Medika Mamba) and use it to feed malnourished Haitian children. The group figures there are about 250,000 malnourished children in Haiti and says those numbers are about to go up. Tom Stehl with Meds and Food for Kids talked about how the organization is bracing for an increase in demand and how you can help.

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) featured on Jaco Report (1/14/10)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:37:00 -0500

Tom Stehl, Meds & Food for Kids' Coordinator of Operations, was featured on the Jaco Report's January 14th radio broadcast. Tom and Jaco discussed MFK's response to the devastating Haiti earthquake and MFK's life-saving product for malnourished children, Medika Mamba.

To listen, click here.

MFK on St. Louis NewsChannel 5 discussing Haiti earthquake

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:36:00 -0500

KSDK -- Meds and Food for Kids is a St. Louis based non-profit founded by a St. Louis pediatrician to provide food and medical supplies for Haitian children. Tom Stehl, who helps run the agency, joined NewsChannel 5's Jennifer Blome to talk about the challenges the organization is facing since the 7.0 earthquake hit. People who would like to donate can go to the Just Give web site or mail checks to Meds and Food for Kids, 4488 Forest Park, Ste. 230, St. Louis, Missouri, 63108.

MFK Moves Quickly to Meet Crisis in Haiti

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:34:00 -0500

Day by day, earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince grow more desperate for food — and Meds & Food for Kids (MFK), a St. Louis-based non-profit already working in Haiti to save the lives of malnourished children, is on the ground to help with emergency and long-term assistance. It is also urgently seeking donations from the public to make possible these stepped-up efforts.

In its factory, 80 miles north of the capital, MFK produces packets of “Medika Mamba,” an energy-dense peanut butter product recognized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF as the most effective treatment for malnutrition . MFK’s Port-au-Prince warehouse, unscathed by the quake, currently has 5,000 kilograms of Mamba ready for distribution to its clinical partners. Its warehouse manager, though injured, will coordinate this work.

“We are working feverishly to arrange transportation of these supplies to our partner network in Port-au-Prince, which includes Grace Children’s Hospital, Doctors Without Borders and Gheskio, a leading HIV/AIDS treatment center,” says Tom Stehl, MFK coordinator of operations.

For MFK, that will only be the beginning of its task. In coming weeks, MFK will increase production to turn out 10,000 more kilograms of Mamba, which it will distribute to children whose lives are threatened by ongoing shortages of food. Patricia Wolff, MD, MFK’s founder and executive director, has left for Haiti to supervise these efforts.

“There were 250,000 malnourished children in Haiti before the earthquake struck,” says Stehl, “and we know there will be an dramatic increase in this number as the second wave of the crisis hits.”

One urgent problem is obtaining enough raw materials — peanuts, sugar, oil, dried milk, vitamins and minerals — to produce this new supply of Mamba. Just before the quake hit, MFK had a large container of materials in the capital’s port, which was severely damaged in the quake. The fate of those materials is still unknown.

Generous donors, including Scottrade, an online brokerage firm, have stepped forward to make possible new shipments of Mamba ingredients to other ports. But more money is urgently needed to make these emergency efforts possible. MFK welcomes donations through its website: http://www.mfkhaiti.org/

MFK searching for answers after Haiti Catastophe

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:32:00 -0500

The powerful earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince yesterday has left Meds & Food for Kids, a St. Louis-based non-profit with operations in Haiti, searching for answers.

MFK has lost contact with its Port-au-Prince depot manager, Papillon Gerard, and is unsure of his whereabouts or safety. The organization also does not yet know the state of the depot itself and the raw materials that it houses. However, its food production facility in Cap-Haitien, northeast of the capital, appears to be unscathed.

“Almost everything is uncertain. Since phone service is down throughout the country, the Internet is our only means of communication right now. So we are having trouble reaching our Haitian partners to get more information,” said Tom Stehl, MFK coordinator of operations.

MFK is dedicated to saving the lives of Haiti’s 250,000 malnourished children by producing a therapeutic food known as “Medika Mamba,” an enriched peanut paste endorsed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. St. Louis pediatrician Patricia Wolff, MD, founded the organization in 2004, and it has since saved the lives of more than 13,000 malnourished children.

A second, equally vital, part of its mission is sustainability: teaching Haitian farmers better agricultural practices so they can raise larger, healthier crops of peanuts, used in Medika Mamba. MFK also employs Haitian workers at its plant, thus boosting the local economy.

In the wake of this earthquake, MFK knows that it will need to gear up to meet increased demand for its product. Humanitarian crises closely follow natural disasters, like the string of hurricanes that hit Haiti in 2008. Already this small nation, only 600 miles from the Florida coast, is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

“After the hurricanes, we saw a huge increase in the need for Medika Mamba,” Stehl added. “We expect, and are preparing for, a similar spike in demand over the coming weeks. Of course, we will need increased financial contributions to make this help a reality.”

The United Nations Reports on MFK

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:03:00 -0500

Click here to read a transcript of the video from the UN.

Meds & Foods for Kids by Avatar Studios

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:53:00 -0500

Adele Charles and Medika Mamba

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:47:00 -0500

Surveying the turquoise shack, nestled on the side of a mountain, I wonder how Adele Charles and her family survives here. Will the baby asleep on the bed wake up to slow drops of rain that drip through holes in the ceiling? Will a stronger cascade burst through the cracks like a waterfall?

But Adele Charles has more pressing concerns than the strength of her home, which she has already repaired several times after hurricanes took down its walls and transformed the dust floor into a deep sea of mud.

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Getting Medika Mamba to Those Who Need it Most Following the Earthquake

Washington University's Dr. Lora Iannotti, MFK featured on KSDK, NewsChannel 5

MFK's Tom Stehl featured in Des Moines Register article (1/26/10)

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MFK featured in St. Louis Post Dispatch article (1/22/10)

Survivors stream into Cap-Haitian as MFK continues making Medika Mamba (1/22/10)

MFK partner and earthquake survivor Dr. Iannotti returns home, pens op-ed piece

Port-au-Prince seaport destroyed, MFK container feared lost (1/18/10)

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) featured on St. Louis Fox 2 News in the Morning (1/14/10)

Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) featured on Jaco Report (1/14/10)

MFK on St. Louis NewsChannel 5 discussing Haiti earthquake

MFK Moves Quickly to Meet Crisis in Haiti

MFK searching for answers after Haiti Catastophe

The United Nations Reports on MFK

Click here to read a transcript of the video from the UN.

Read more about Medika Mamba and our partnership with World Wide Village on The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog.

Meds & Foods for Kids by Avatar Studios

Adele Charles and Medika Mamba

Read more about Medika Mamba and our partnership with World Wide Village
on The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog.