FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2027- Cap Haitien, Haiti – On January 27, UNICEF issued a new, urgent call to help the children of Haiti, noting that “one in two children depends on humanitarian aid to survive this year in Haiti. Over the past two years, the number of Haitian children in need of humanitarian assistance has increased by half a million.”
Despite supply chain issues and civil disruption, Meds & Food for Kids’ Cap Haitien factory is expanding capacity to produce and distribute its life saving, ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF), to treat severely malnourished infants, children and pregnant women in Haiti and 17 other countries.
Meds & Food for Kids’ CEO Chris Greene and Dr. Patricia B. Wolff, MD, founder and senior advisor, are in Cap Haitien this week to support the team of 80+ factory staff and the community as they work to triple production of RUTF, recognized as the gold standard treatment for severe acute malnutrition by the World Health Organization.
Meds & Food for Kids continues its life saving mission, despite difficult – but not impossible – conditions, including two years of pandemic-related supply chain issues and the recent civil disruption. MFK produces and works with Haitian schools and clinics to distribute the supplement even in these times. In December 2022 alone, the factory produced and delivered a record amount of life-saving, emergency food to treat tens of thousands severely malnourished infants, toddlers and school-age children throughout Haiti.
MFK’s strong local network of partners helps to ensure safe transportation for continued distribution to schools and clinics throughout Haiti.
“Even as headlines paint a grim picture of conditions in Port au Prince, MFK is expanding production to answer UNICEF’s call to triple RUTF production this year,” said Greene. “We’re committed to meeting the urgent needs of millions of severely malnourished infants, children and pregnant mothers in Haiti and in 17 other countries where MFK’s RUTF is distributed by UNICEF.”
“The persistence, resilience, courage, and hard work of the Haitian people has only grown over MFK’s 20 years in Haiti,” said Dr. Wolff. “Meds & Food for Kids’ comprehensive approach treats child malnutrition and builds local sustainability. Life-saving therapeutic foods are part of the solution today and part of the future of Haiti.”
More than 80 Haitians working at the Meds & Food for Kids factory in Cap Haitien produce Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) using simple ingredients like the peanuts sourced from local, smallholder farmers. The factory employs and trains Haitians enabling them to provide for their families and helps create sustainable change to build the Haitian economy.
MFK also teaches farmers how to improve the quality and quantity of their peanut crop yields, trains healthcare workers to treat malnutrition, and provides school kids with nutritious snacks to prevent malnutrition and increase classroom engagement.
MFK’s vision sees a local economy in Haiti that grows and flourishes on its own, providing stable jobs and meeting the nutritional needs of every Haitian.
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Meds & Food for Kids is part of the solution today and part of the future of Haiti.
For more information contact:
Maggie Probert, Chief Advancement Officer
(314) 630-2119
mprobert@mfkhaiti.org
