NAIROBI, 9 November 2009
widespread forms of malnutrition can best be reduced by delivering micronutrients and fortifying food in new, cost-effective ways, in combination with community outreach work, experts have said.
Approaches could range from the obvious – adding iron to flour – to the novel, such as vitamin-enriched chewing gum, a Nairobi conference heard.
Vitamin A, iron and iodine are the most important micronutrients in global public health terms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly for children and pregnant women in poor countries.
Vitamin A deficiency affects more than half of all countries, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia, and it is “especially important where under-five mortality is high,” Sue Horton, a malnutrition economist, told the conference.
The conference on nutrition, held in Nairobi on 3 November, was organized by Danish think-tank The Copenhagen Consensus Center (CCC).
CCC has ranked micronutrient supplements as a top development priority following findings of a study it commissioned in 2008 to identify the best ways to spend aid and development money.
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