A Nutrition Crisis in Tigray & Our ResponseTHE FEWSI THERAPEUTIC FOOD PROJECT FOR SEVERE ACUTE MALNUTRITION
A Nutrition Crisis in Tigray & Our Response:
In February 2024, The Fewsi Foundation (Fewsi) launched our Fewsi Therapeutic Food Project to combat the crisis of severe acute malnutrition that the children and women of Tigray are facing. Drought and The Tigray War (2020-2022) have created a famine there, and over one million people are still displaced and living in settlement camps as the result of the conflict. The war caused large-scale destruction of homes, farmland, crops, and food storage and led to the collapse of the transportation infrastructure. In 2024, the Tigray Health Research Institute conducted a rapid nutritional assessment of accessible rural communities in the Tigray Region and found that the rates of acute child malnutrition, child growth stunting, and malnutrition in women were all greater than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) critical thresholds
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“The situation in the region remains alarming and these acute malnutrition cases require immediate attention…” The Tigray Health Research Institute
Fewsi has partnered with the Tigray Regional Health Bureau, the Tigray Health Research Institute, Mekelle University, and Project Peanut Butter in our mission to develop and operate a factory in Mekelle to produce and distribute “Fewsi Food”: a form of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Fewsi is the Tigrigna word for “healing.” Fewsi Food is produced and packaged by the Tigray Health Research Institute and distributed FREE OF CHARGE by the Tigray Regional Health Bureau through designated clinical facilities. It is NEVER sold commercially. This is a purely humanitarian, not-for-profit program
Summary of Project Updates & Progress
Since starting the Fewsi Therapeutic Food Project in 2024, we have made huge progress: the Tigray Health Research Institute and the Tigray Regional Health Bureau generously donated a building for this project’s use. We have fully renovated the building and installed the production equipment. We have purchased all of the ingredients to begin production, tested and finalized our Fewsi Food recipe, hired an amazing production team in Mekelle, completed training with Project Peanut Butter, and made our first batches of Fewsi Therapeutic Food!
On July 19th, 2025 we officially inaugurated the production facility in Mekelle. As of July 2025, we are beginning to produce our first batches of Fewsi Food and working with Tigray Regional Health Bureau to distribute Fewsi food to the children of Tigray, but we need your help to make this project sustainable and save lives for years to come. It takes roughly 10 kg of Fewsi Food to cure a child of malnutrition. At a production cost of roughly $4 per kilogram, your donation of just $40 can save a child’s life.
Join us and donate today!
FAQsLearn More About the Project
The Fewsi Therapeutic Food Project is The Fewsi Foundation’s humanitarian, not-for-profit program that addresses the rampant malnutrition crisis in Tigray. The project involves preparation of “Fewsi Food”, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), which has been scientifically proven to swiftly reverse the effects of severe acute malnutrition in women and children.
