High Energy Biscuits for malnutrition treatment to be manufactured locally in Vanuatu

Vanuatu has a history of chronic malnutrition, particularly pronounced in children.

In April of 2020, with the backdrop of closed borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tropical Cyclone Harold pummelled three of Vanuatu’s 6 provinces.

In the affected areas, the majority of gardens were ruined, leading to increased morbidity and mortality from malnutrition.

Prevention of malnutrition primarily relies on rapid assessment of needs and delivery of resources to those most vulnerable. Some micronutrient distribution, provided by UNICEF, had already occurred. Because of international border closures, RUTF (Ready to Use Therapeutic Food), usually used for malnutrition treatment, has been unavailable in this country. The main approach used to prevent further deterioration in at-risk communities is the delivery of High Energy Biscuits (HEB’s). Unfortunately, there were no HEB’s available to import and no local producers.

When this need was first raised, the Nutrition Sub Cluster looked around for available options. Wan Smol Bag, was involved early on and worked closely with other organisations such as Lapita as well as others at many other potential facilities. After reviewing possible options, there was no facility that could meet all of the criteria. The criteria included not only having staff and ovens, the facility had to meet quality standards, and have the appropriate training and the ability to vacuum pack. The last requirement was for facility to have a HEB recipe that met international nutrition and microbe standards while using local ingredients and passing field testing with children. Wan Smol Bag met all of these requirements. Wan Smol Bag requested financial assistance from the Australian Aid funded Vanuatu Health Program to both develop the capacity for HEB production and to produce 20,000 HEBs for distribution in TC Harold affected areas.

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