Imunut is a ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) supplement in the form of a paste. Enriched with protein, essential vitamins, minerals, energy and essential fatty acids, it is a vital tool in the fight against acute childhood nutrition.

Today, more people die of starvation than AIDS, TB and malaria combined, with children under the age of five being the most vulnerable. The long-term effects of malnutrition can also lead to stunted growth, both mentally and physically, and confine the person to a vicious cycle of poverty.

Traditionally children in this age group have been treated for malnutrition in therapeutic feeding centres, a long process that requires the presence of a care-giver - usually the child's mother - which leaves other siblings unattended at home and the fields untilled.

Ideally the child should be treated in their own home environment, but access to clean drinking water - which is required for any water-based nutritional formula - is hugely problematic, and because of unsophisticated home environments, storage and feeding of the formula is difficult to monitor.

Simplicity is the key to the solution - an easy to dispense RUTF which is both palatable and effective. Supply and maintenance of the product is simple - it requires no refrigeration, the product has been hermetically packaged and has a shelf life of two years.