Afya
Afya will introduce the "Spirulina" algae as a nutritional supplement in Uganda to fight malnutrition. Afya is an Enactus Mannheim e.V. project.
Fighting hidden hunger with microalgae
Today, about 795 million people worldwide still suffer from malnutrition. In Uganda, our target region, 34,6% of the general population are affected by some form of malnutrition. Among the most severely impaired are children and child-bearing women: Malnutrition is the underlying cause of as many as 45% of child deaths in Uganda. Many Ugandan ouseholds do not have access to diverse diets, relying on affordable foods, which lack protein and many key nutrients and therefore suffer from malnutrition.
Our Solution
By using WHO’s celebrated ‘food of the future’, Spirulina, we aim to tackle the problem of malnutrition in Uganda. Only a teaspoon of dried microalgae a day provides almost all necessary nutrients and the consumption of supplements like Spirulina has proven to be an effective method to counter the acute effects of malnutrition. In addition, Spirulina grows efficiently and sustainable: It doubles its biomass every 24 hours, contains more protein than meat or soy beans, and uses only one 200th of the production land and water required for producing a similar amount of beef. The cultivation of Spirulina can be done in low-cost, low-tech Race Way ponds, which are buildable from locally available materials all over the world.
Our Concept