Help Feed Hungry Children in Zimbabwe

Dear Supporter,

Whilst we are still waiting for funds to come in to build up this project in Zimbabwe, I wanted to share with you some e'Pap success stories from across Africa. 

A pilot study was conducted in 2013 in Tanguiéta, Benin, to assess the effectiveness of e’Pap as a nutritional supplement in improving the nutritional status of children aged 6 to 59 months.

The unpublished results demonstrate that e’Pap is an efficient way to improve nutritional status. On admission to the study, 87% of the children had nutritional problems, 32% of which were severe. After a mere eight weeks, this pattern had been reversed, with 88% of children being nutritionally normal, and no child displaying severe acute malnutrition. Anthropometric measurements rose steadily, and haemoglobin levels improved significantly from 6.8 to 8.9g/dl.

This pilot confirms what was found when the impact of e’Pap on the health and well-being of crèche children and adult TB patients was assessed in Alexandra Township, South Africa. Like the Benin study, this one was carried out with significant resource limitations, making it impossible to control all confounding variables, but, despite this, the results allowed statistical analysis which showed significant change over time.

Improved general well-being among the adults, accompanied by fewer reports of low energy, was in stark contrast to a study in Malawi, which used Corn Soya Blend (CSB) and Plumpy’Nut. They observed increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) without change in waist / hip ratios among adult participants suggested that BMI increases were due to muscle gain rather than fat gain. This was similar to the results in the children, where improvements were observed in lean body mass. 

I hope this helps show what a difference e'Pap can make in a short space of time!

All the best

GVI Charitable Trust 

Links:

• http://www.gvi.org