Problem Statement
In Niger, despite tremendous efforts made to prevent/alleviate the prevalence of infant and child malnutrition, the statistics still show alarming thresholds. Recurrent episodes of food insecurity affect infants in a critical period of food transition that eventually puts them at risk of adulthood onset of chronic diseases. This underscores the need for more operational studies to explore the implementation of local solutions for producing therapeutic flours for managing malnutrition.
Progress Highlights
Some of the achievements of the project so far include the creation of a multinational (Africa and Europe), multisector, and multidisciplinary team, recruitment of 1 researcher, full funding of 2 PhD students and 4 Master students, creation of new research axes in almost all the institutions and acquisition of new technologies to the benefit of institutions.
Key Findings
A community-specific qualitative design was conducted through in-depth, semi-structured interviews of focus group discussions and with key informants and participants from three regions of Niger. The study concluded with typical core food and supplementary ingredients across the investigated localities. However, the difference in the culinary/ transformation habits creates disparities in the nutritional value of the cooked foods, making some more beneficial than others.
Potential Impact
The project promotes a dynamic multidisciplinary team that participates in the development of new research axes in the partner institutions, allows for the acquisition of/access to new technologies, and forms young, growing scientists fully funded in the project’s implementation, targeting local solutions for a significant and quasi-permanent public health issue.
Summary
Several factors continue to threaten the nutritional status of children under five years in Africa. In addition to this, containment measures adopted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have led to further disruptions in food production and distribution and in humanitarian supply chains. Medically, the commonly used protocol for the management of Acute Malnutrition such as those faced in Africa remains imported fortified blended flours. Dr Karidio will develop a new formulation of microbiota-directed therapeutic flours from local ingredients as an alternative to imported ones.
Grantee Description
Dr Karidio is an ARISE-PP fellow and the Head of the Platform of Immunology and Hæmatology at CERMES in Niger Republic. He obtained his PhD. in Biochemistry from Ege University with a research thesis focused on “Isolation of Anticancer Agents from Microorganisms and Investigation of their Effectiveness”.
Currently, Dr Karidio’s research focuses basically on microbiota targeted nutrition (at all life stages), for sustainable, preventive, maintenance, and correction of health status: Nutrition and Health
Project: “Investigation of local food sources of prebiotics for the prevention and management of moderate acute malnutrition in Niger.”
In 2020, the number of West African children (in general) and those of Niger (in particular) that suffered from malnutrition (Acute malnutrition). In health institutions, moderate acute malnutrition is essentially treated with therapeutic flours (imported at a high cost). Currently, there is a growing body of literature reporting a pivotal role of the microbiota in the nutritional status of infants and children. Feeding infants and children with prebiotic-rich foods would eventually favour a beneficial qualitative and/or quantitative composition of the microbiota characteristic of a healthy status. Dr Karidio is interested in the local production, with local ingredients, of microbiota-directed (prebiotic-rich), therapeutic fours as alternative for imported one.
