By Samantha Serrano | Project Leader
In 2017, it was found that 43.5% of Peruvian children 6 – 35 months suffer from anemia. To combat this alarming rate, the Peruvian government has called on agents from the public and private sector to work together on proper nutrition, iron supplementation, hygiene, and education. At DESEA, staff is working jointly with local institutions on this issue in the context of our remote project communities.
One component of this work involves the rescuing of a traditional Andean practice: the making of charqui. Charqui is a type of dehydrated meat that can be stored safely for prolonged periods of time, can be made with few resources (salt, water, string, strainer, pot) and with a variety of organs (blood, spleen, liver) that are especially high in iron. This practice is ideal for communities where income is scarce, and there is typically no refrigeration.
Last month, DESEA staff and qhalis practiced the making of charqui, promoting the use of blood and the spleen which have enough iron for the adequate daily intake of a child with only one tablespoon! Other communities in Peru that have rescued this practice have seen anemia disappear and healthy children grow. Qhalis are sharing their knowledge with their neighbors and DESEA will also be offering charqui-making workshops to community members next month.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
