Feeding the world differently.
The global supply of ready-to-use therapeutic food just collapsed. We've been working on what comes next.
Ready-to-use therapeutic food — RUTF — is one of the most important medical interventions in global health.
It has saved millions of children from severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF's entire malnutrition response has depended on it for decades.
Early 2025 exposed a structural weakness in the RUTF supply chain: despite its critical role in child survival, production remained concentrated among a small number of manufacturers, leaving the system vulnerable to disruption
Butterfly Collaborative is part of a broader global group of researchers working on next-generation approaches to therapeutic nutrition
Our work is specifically focused on creating solutions that can be produced in-country across sub-Saharan Africa, removing the dependency on distant supply chains entirely.
This is the future we are building. In partnership with health researchers and educators in Malawi, we are developing more affordable solutions to expand access to life-saving therapeutic nutrition for children across the country.
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Interested in our research?
We welcome partnerships with institutions, foundations, and researchers who share our commitment to open, ethical global health science.