Burkina Faso’s miracle food: Spirulina used to improve health of malnourished children
Spirulina is grown in ponds in a production center located in Koudougou, 100 km from the capital city Ouagadougou.
Spirulina, often referred to as dietary supplement, is part of the algae family and grows naturally in lakes. It can be artificially grown in ponds that are 200-meter square wide, where inputs are added to enable its growth. In each production facility, it is produced daily between 7 a.m. and noon by a team of three women. The process includes the harvesting, the compression, the extraction, the drying and finally the packaging of the product.
“Spirulina is highly nutritious and contains many vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K. It also contains other nutrients such as trace elements like iron, manganese, calcium, potassium, and many others. By consuming spirulina regularly, we absorb its nutrients for the benefits of human health. From then we are able to treat malnutrition and also anemia, which is blood loss or iron-deficiency. Consuming spirulina allows red blood cells to be produced quickly enough and as a result makes up for blood loss. In three-weeks time, we are able to treat malnutrition and anemia.” Said Jean Zoungrana, Director of Operations at the Spirulina Nayalgue Farm
According to UNICEF, about 3 million children die of undernutrition in developing countries each year. The Spiruline Nayalgue project was created in Burkina Faso to fight against malnutrition and provide support to people affected by HIV/AIDS. To this day, the spirulina production center is the main supplier for health centers across the country.
“We work with three groups: children who suffer from moderately acute malnutrition, and children who have severe acute malnutrition, in addition to children who come for follow-up visits. We see that using spirulina in malnourished children enables them to recover quickly. Also we currently work with women with low breast milk supply, and anytime we identify any such woman we ask her to take spirulina to help increase her milk supply.” said Georgette Kando Zongo, Manager, Nutritional Rehabilitation Center
Although spirulina has been approved by the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso, it has not yet gained worldwide recognition by health organizations.
“Spirulina’s effectiveness is not any more to be proved. But I think it is more about certain international firms and labs wanting to protect their interests because, if spirulina emerges on the market, it could serve as a substitute for these labs’ profitable products, which are sold on the global market, and which will in turn affect their profits. Although spirulina has many benefits at the present time, we think it needs recognition from the WHO along with an official authorization that enables this product to be used towards treating malnutrition, particularly in certain African countries.” Said Jean Zoungrana, Director of Operations at the Spirulina Nayalgue Farm
The surprising success of spirulina enabled the creation of new farms in order to meet the growing demand in Burkina Faso and in neighboring countries.
