Project description
New food to address child malnutrition
Despite decades of progress, malnutrition remains a leading cause of child death. It continues to ravage vulnerable populations, fuelling disease, developmental delays, and mortality among children under five. To help reverse this trend, the EU-funded NutriLOC project is developing therapeutic and supplementary nutrition products using locally sourced ingredients. These food products will prioritise non-dairy, nutritionally adequate, affordable, sustainable, and accessible formulations through national nutrition programmes. The project will explore the use of locally available ingredients such as fish, legumes and cereals, spirulina and mycoprotein. Ultimately, it aims to develop evidence-based, locally driven solutions that transform malnutrition management across Africa.
Objective
Malnutrition in children under five years remains one of the most urgent and persistent global health challenges, and a direct violation of children’s rights. Program coverage for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition remains critically low, often reaching fewer than 20%, while moderate acute malnutrition, which affects even more children, is often overlooked. Moderate acute malnutrition is the precursor to the severe form, and if addressed early, many cases could be prevented, saving lives and reducing the need for more intensive and costly treatment. The NutriLOC project is strategically designed to tackle the persistent and complex challenges of child malnutrition by advancing locally driven, evidence-based solutions for the management of malnutrition. At its core, NutriLOC aims to innovate and scale up a new generation of therapeutic and supplementary foods that are produced from local ingredients, are non-dairy, nutritionally adequate, cost-effective, sustainable, and equitably accessible through national nutrition programs. The project focuses on ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs), ready-to-use supplementary foods (RUSFs), and introduces a new product category: locally adapted fortified supplements (LAFSs). NutriLOC explores the use of local fish, legumes, and cereals, as well as two emerging, protein-rich ingredients, spirulina and mycoprotein, that are already being produced in Kenya. The project outputs are designed to stimulate local economies and lay a foundation for sustainable self-reliance in malnutrition management. Moreover, it informs future research, scale-up efforts, policy reforms, and investment decisions. Ultimately, NutriLOC seeks to catalyze a transformative shift where innovation, sustainability, equity, and self-reliance converge to redefine how African countries combat malnutrition.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
HORIZON.2.6.5 - Food Systems
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2025-02
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00014 Helsinki
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.