Author: danone

Anemia is the world largest nutritional and health challenge impacting over 2 billion people. It mainly affects women and children (40% of maternal death) and has serious impacts on cognitive and physical development for children*.

Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise (LIFe) is a purpose-driven company that is on a mission to improve global health by making iron deficiency a thing of the past. They balance profit with purpose by using a portion of every sale to give back to partner communities globally that are struggling with nutrition. For their work, they have been awarded Best In The World in the Communities category by B Corporation in 2021.

Started in Cambodia, through the PhD research at the university of Guelph, Lucky Iron Fish is a small iron fish or leaf-shaped cooking tool made of iron. When added for 10 minutes in boiling liquid (like water, soup, sauces, curry …) it releases a significant portion of the daily required iron for the family. There is a clinical study evidence** that a regular usage of Lucky Iron Fish is improving anemia status and Iron deficiency with the same efficiency, better compliance and less side effects than iron supplements.

Why a fish? “Because our journey began in Cambodia, where the symbol of Fish is considered lucky. After testing many different shapes of iron cooking tool, the fish shape is what was most well-received by the communities”.

Since 2016, Lucky Iron Fish has impacted over 240,000 people in more than 20 geographies. The objective of the enterprise is to reach a target of 2,5 million people in Low and Middle Income Countries over the next 5 years. Danone Communities strengthens its fight against malnutrition for all, thus contributing to the UN’s 2nd Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

*Source : WHO 

** Washington State University – Guatemala 2018; Penn University – Dominican Republic 2016, Harvard – India 2017

In Bangladesh, one out of two children suffer from malnutrition, so it’s very hard for them to reach their full physical and mental potential. Eating well enables children to grow, develop good memory and maximize their learning at school, which prepares them for a bright future – for themselves and for their country.

That’s why the Grameen Danone Foods team developed Shokti +, a yoghurt enriched with micronutrients (iron, Iodine, zinc, vitamin-A) that helps to fulfil the children’s nutritional needs.

Grameen Danone Foods is also a source of income for the inhabitants of surrounding villages: the small farmers sell their milk to the company and women with no resources earn an income by selling the yogurts door-to-door. Grameen Danone Foods also supports 100 van pullers by giving them insurance, sales training, and revenue stability.

In Senegal, 90% of the milk is imported as powder, whereas 30% of the Senegalese population make a living of cattle farming. La Laiterie du Berger enables those milk producers to have a regular revenue by purchasing their milk. La Laiterie du Berger produces delicious traditional dairy products, the only ones made from local Senegalese milk.

Dolima: good for me, good for my country!

This slogan explains the uniqueness of La Laiterie du Berger (The Herder’s milk farm). Not only does the milk farm produce delicious dairy products inspired by traditional recipes, they also increase the supply of locally produced milk.

Bagore Bathily is a vet and took care of nomadic Fulani herders’ cows for several years in Northern Senegal, who are living in poverty and not finding customers to sell their milk to. In 2005 he decided  to create a social business in Senegal, La Laiterie du Berger, to improve the living conditions of local herders, collecting their milk and producing dairy products made from locally sourced milk.

La Laiterie du Berger contributes to develop a local dairy sector, sourcing its milk from local herders and facilitating their access to services like cattle food and credit.

That’s why they named their product “Dolima” which means “I want more” in Wolof!

In France, 160 000 babies are born every year in families living below the poverty threshold; that is one child out of five.

These families face two issues: expert advice are sometimes difficult to implement and adapted food for children is expensive. Social and economic vulnerability are obstacles to adopting healthy eating practices. For a child, nutrition during the first 1000 days is essential to his future health.

The mission of the Malin Program is to improve eating habits during these 1,000 days of families under the poverty line living in France. The way to operate is through an association of general interest, which has been co-created with private and public partners (Red Cross, 2 pediatric French associations, Action Tank Entreprise, Danone Communities, Blédina, SEB and its brands SEB/Tefal/Moulinex, Lesieur and La Banque Postale Assurance Santé)

Malin Program is built on three pillars:

1. Education on nutrition (breastfeeding, adapted diet..)
2. Budget offers to access adapted food : 20% to 80% off vouchers on infant nutrition and vegetal oils, online VIP sales for kitchen devices to do home made food….
3. Impact measurement (Clinical study)

With 2 principles : Co-creation and non stigmatizing offer

 

In an ever-expanding China, parents from poor rural communities leave their villages to go to work in the cities. Infants are often entrusted to their grandparents. It is the reason why the breastfeeding rate is low and anemia (mostly iron deficit) affects 10 million children, especially in rural areas among children under 2-year-old.

Mrs Chen and Mr Zhu, two Professors, decided to tackle this issue by developing Ying Yang Bao – a nutrition supplement pack that is enriched with essential micronutrients and can be sprinkled on rice, noodles or beverages of kids.

After a successful pilot, YingYang Bao is now sold by the social business Nutrigo in Eastern & Central China. Encouraged by the positive impacts from Ying Yang Bao, the Chinese government started to distribute it in the 300 poorest districts and joined forces with Nutrigo to educate health workers.