Perpetual Nutrition Kit

In Mexico there is still a large population suffering from malnutrition, either due to the extreme poverty in some rural areas or simply by bad ingestion habits. One of the barriers to overcome is the great distance to be covered to reach the affected areas. The programs that combat this issue provide food only from time to time, being unable to ensure constant nourishment. Besides, their contribution is based mostly on carbohydrate compared with the amount of protein required by the body. So the benefit is neither consistent nor as nutritious as it should be.

Spirulina is a microalgae that is used as a supplement because it’s high in protein content, grows in water and can be easily harvested and processed. With spirulina you get more protein per square meter than any other product such as soybeans or corn. It also has a great amount of other nutriments like vitamins and minerals.

The Water Center for Latin America and Caribbean and Tec de Monterrey are developing a domestic kit to produce spirulina. The idea, based on the Blue Economy, is to distribute kits in the poorest regions in Nuevo Leon, and a group of students train users on techniques to harvest the microalgae, the benefits, and the best way to process it for storage and consumption. The users can consume fresh spirulin in their daily meals, preventing the deterioration of nutriments caused by food processing. The kits include: a fresh to stock of spirulin, a reactor to grown it, a net to collect it, the culture media, and a pump charged by solar energy, and manuals with the directions to use it and recipes to consume it.

Our program includes the females’ head of household and some rural schools. . Since it is easy to grow the algae users can produce as much spirulina as they wish. Their product will serve them as a food supplement and to generate profits. We will direct them in how to prepare products form spirulin and coach the community to generate their own business models.  

It takes one brigade to distribute the kit and train the users. As a result the protein source will be constant and complete, while also serving to improve the user’s economic condition. We are sure we will have the support from the government and other organizations to serve as distribution channels and as health staff providers that will evaluate the nutrition status of the users. After we improve the nutrition here we wish to address the problem in the southern states of Mexico and other part of the world which have a more severe issue.