Nearly 19 million babies born globally every year – 14% – are at risk of permanent yet preventable brain damage and reduced cognitive function due to a lack of iodine in the earliest years of life, according to a new joint report by UNICEF and GAIN released today. More than 1 in 4 of these children – 4.3 million – lives in South Asia.
An international research team, led by ETH Zurich in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and with inputs from UNICEF, demonstrate that if most salt for human consumption is iodized, salt will provide sufficient dietary iodine to all population groups.
Scientists fear up to 50% of all newborns in Europe do not reach their full cognitive potential due to iodine deficiency. Today with the Krakow Declaration on Iodine presented at the Jagiellonian University, scientists from the EUfunded project EUthyroid, supported by several stakeholder organisations, call on European policy-makers to support measures to eliminate iodine deficiency.
GAIN and RUAF announce their new partnership to work with city governments to improve urban nutrition as a key component of sustainable urban food systems. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in May 2018 as part of the Urban Governance for Nutrition Programme, a programme designed to strengthen governance around nutrition and improve consumption of safe and nutritious food.
A new report calls for governments and companies to join forces to tackle global malnutrition, saying that achievement of the nutrition-related UN Sustainable Development Goals requires leveraging the resources of firms, financiers and shareholders, to work with civil society stakeholders to support the nutrition priorities of governments.
GAIN and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) are to team up to work to advance their shared vision of creating sustainable food systems in Africa. GAIN Executive Director, Lawrence Haddad and AGRA President, Dr Agnes Kalibata signed the Memorandum of Understanding paving the way for the partnership at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The World Food Prize Foundation awarded today the 2018 World Food Prize to Lawrence Haddad and David Nabarro, former special adviser to the UN Secretary General. Announcing the award Ambassador Quinn, World Food Prize President cited the recipients for their “extraordinary intellectual and policy leadership in bringing maternal and child nutrition to the forefront of the global food security agenda and thereby significantly reducing childhood stunting”.
A review of grain fortification monitoring documents from 68 countries indicates that key elements are generally missing from the material. To help countries revise their documentation or establish new programs, the review authors created a 44-point checklist with sample text for food fortification legislation, standards, and monitoring policies.
The Nutrition Africa Investor Forum will highlight business opportunities in a largely underdeveloped market. From farm to fork, nutrient gaps in diets within low and middle-income markets constitute a largely untapped market worth USD 120bn.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences – with support from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), is convening the “Workshop on Food Safety and Healthy Diets” in Vatican City 12-13 September 2018. The workshop will highlight that all people should have access to safe, affordable and nutritious foods which are essential for sustaining life and human dignity.
