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Location

Malawi

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Sector

Health

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Type of Investment

Grant

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Project Stage

Completed

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Length of Investment

2015+

Investment Overview

A $210,000 grant to test a new food supplement in Malawi that can be made with local ingredients and which is intended to reduce the cost of combating acute malnutrition in children.

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The Development Challenge


Fifty million children suffer from acute malnutrition, which is associated with between 1-2 million avoidable child deaths every single year.


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The Innovation


VALID’s innovation aimed to combat malnutrition by manufacturing exclusively in developing countries an affordable, ready-to-use food supplement paste made out of locally grown crops. In partnership with Ajinomoto, a leading Japanese food technology company, VALID worked to reduce production costs and extend access to the life-saving food paste, whilst channelling economic benefits back to local manufacturers and farmers.


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Our Investment


GIF’s $210,000 grant supported an efficacy trial of VALID’s food paste, building upon earlier successful clinical and acceptability trials.


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Investment Objective


To conduct a trial to test efficacy of an RUTF (ready to use therapeutic food) product.


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Why we invested

Cost-effectiveness.


VALID’s innovation had the potential to be a more cost-effective way to treat malnutrition. Cost-savings have the potential to lead development partners to increase the number of children they treat, while local sourcing could also improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.


Potential to scale.


VALID had significant potential to scale the innovation directly and to spur further innovation and local production elsewhere. The partnership assembled between Valid and Ajinomoto was strong.

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VALID Nutrition in numbers

1-2 million

Number of avoidable child deaths by malnutrition per year

$210,000

GIF Grant

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VALID Nutrition Completion Report

Click here to read VALID Nutrition's Completion Report.