By Kali Kirkendall | Executive Director
Building Partnerships and Thriving through research:
The last quarter of 2023 has been one of exciting new developments for our blue food initiative in Uganda, utilizing spirulina as a locally grown crop to combat malnutrition and combat greenhouse gases.
As we passed all required testing for the development of Spirulina as a food product in Uganda and safe growing practices and protocols to ensure compliance and no harm, we looked forward to third party testing and partnerships.
Why would we look to third parties if we passed all required government testing? We are doing this to test for things outside of the scope of what is required. We want to go above and beyond to ensure that the spirulina we are growing at the Spirulina Development Institute meets our internal standards of nutrient density, so we are partnering with the Makerere University and Chemiphar Labs to test 18 different markers. We will be sharing those results in the first quarter of 2024!
We are also currently fundraising for our partnership with Masaka Regional Hospital. This partnership is co-organized with Dr. Samuel Mbusa and will allow us to ensure that our efforts of end malnutrition with access to spirulina is successful. Through this partnership we will be able to control for unforeseen complications in nutrient uptake, such as parasites, by having a lab facility test for these controls. At Masaka, they work with 60 children daily that have been diagnosed with acute or chronic malnutrition. These children are closely monitored by doctors, nurses and nutritionist to guarantee their health needs are being met. We are excited to provide them with the spirulina and financial support they need to carry out this three month study. Our goal for this study is $25,000 USD and will include all of our preparation, the growing, the study and the monitoring and evaluating of all results. We will be sharing this progress and results over the next 6 months!
Thank you, to all of our generous donors who have helped us get this far. As we look to 2024, we see the potential; The potential for providing farmers with another avenue of income; the potential of sourcing a solution locally, thus boosting the local economy, to foster health and combat malnutrition, the potential all children should be able to reach with the nutrients needed to flourish in their daily lives.
Thank you. Merry Christmas and a Happy 2024 to you all.
Cheers,
Kali
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
