Imagine a classroom filled with eager young minds, ready to embrace the world's opportunities. Now, picture these same children and adolescents, their potential stifled not by lack of ambition, but by an invisible adversary – hidden hunger.
1 in 2 people reading this article are likely experiencing hidden hunger, in other words a lack of essential vitamins and minerals. That matters because these "micronutrients" are the micro drivers of functions such as our immune systems which keep us safe and healthy.
GAIN is launching a short animated video, packed with key facts and information about large scale food fortification. It is a great tool for advocacy and education in countries where increasing access to fortified foods is on the agenda.
when fortification’s done right, payoffs are large in terms of improved nutritional status, cognition, and productivity – which is why it’s so widely implemented. And wherever it’s implemented, we need to know if it’s working. Ideally, we’d measure impact on reduced nutrient deficiencies or related health outcomes, but this can be difficult for reasons of cost or because of the time taken for fortification programmes to yield measurable impacts. So what do we do instead?
Pellagra. Beriberi. You likely haven’t heard of these debilitating diseases: they were virtually eradicated more than 70 years ago by adding essential vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed staple foods and condiments. One of the most common forms of fortification, salt iodisation, is now practiced in more than 160 countries and is credited with preventing 750 million cases of goitre over the past 25 years.
The RANFOSE project aims to increase the availability of high-quality, fortified staple foods across the country and expand the local production and importation of fortified foods. Despite facing many challenges linked to natural disasters, poverty and political instability, the RANFOSE team remains optimistic about the potential impact of the project.
Micronutrient deficiencies are a leading cause of intellectual disability in children, preventable blindness in children, and maternal death during childbirth. They can limit a person’s ability to learn, earn a living, or live a healthy life. These debilitating consequences damage whole communities, as well as economies.