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OPTIMISING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE |
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Valid Nutrition (VN) was established as a not-for-profit company in 2005 and registered as an Irish charity in 2007, with the mission to make and market highly-fortified nutritional pastes to treat and prevent malnutrition in a number of developing countries. The aim of Valid Nutrition is to set the benchmark for the quality, effectiveness and cost of Ready-to-Use Foods (RUFs).
VN's long-term aim is to alleviate malnutrition among children and people living with HIV/AIDS by developing new and cheaper products and ensuring the availability of high-quality, affordable RUFs for all who require them through building the capacity of local manufacturers and providing them access to markets.
Under its legal statutes all VN revenue is required to be channelled back into product and technology development, expanding local production, increasing access and improving the treatment of malnutrition in general.
To improve, diversify and identify cheaper RUF formulations, VN is carrying out research, development and field testing of new products in collaboration with an extensive range of NGO, university and research institution partnerships built up by Valid International during their development of the Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) model.
VN is currently producing Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) either itself or through local subcontractors, in Malawi, Zambia and Kenya, supplying a variety of NGOs, governments and humanitarian agencies with RUTF for use in CTC/CMAM programmes. VN is developing local production capacity in Ethiopia, with other country programmes planned to start shortly.
Because RUFs are given to children who are weakened by malnutrition, they must be produced to the highest quality standards. To guarantee quality, VN trains local subcontractors in correct manufacturing methods and enforces strict standards for hygiene, food safety and product composition. Local VN managers monitor production and quality assurance procedures to ensure that only high quality products are supplied and to enforce the timely delivery of orders.
The not-for-profit model, adopted by VN, represents an alternative that can take advantage of competitive market forces to provide continuity, whilst helping to protect this emerging market from profiteering. VN is run with the same financial rigor as successful commercial food companies, using market mechanisms and the growing demand for RUF to generate revenue. However, the not-for-profit status and absence of shareholders increases the flexibility and ability of VN to adapt to market and humanitarian needs, thus increasing VN’s competitiveness. This should allow VN to set a benchmark for price and quality that new entrants into the RUF market will have to meet.
To find out more about purchasing RUFs please contact Valid Nutrition at office@validnutrition.org or visit www.validnutrition.org. |
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