By: Jay Naidoo

2012-02-14 11:17:35

Our Letter to Improve Global Nutrition

We are pleased that nutrition has gained tremendous momentum on the global agenda, as decision makers realize its importance for health and development. The challenge is turning this increased interest into action and delivery in these times of severe resource constraint.

As we enter our 10th year, we reflect on 2010-2011 as an exciting time in terms of scaling up national and global platforms for nutrition. GAIN defines platforms as innovative alliances of public and private partners. Through these platforms, we seek game-changing, long-term impact, and aim to ensure that trend lines for nutrition improve by making markets work for the poor. These alliances aspire to deliver nutritional impact at scale by encouraging innovation and policy environments that successfully enable change.

Exploring Agriculture and Nutrition

This year we began to explore the opportunities for, and obstacles to, linking agriculture with nutrition. Our programs are also empowering families to improve nutrition at home, through the use of multinutrient supplements or fortified spreads in home prepared meals. Moreover, we are actively expanding our role in advocacy and looking to kick start a global movement of stakeholders, which will improve policies, raise awareness and ultimately increase resources for nutrition.

As part of our efforts, we are working alongside other like-minded organizations to establish and support a series of global initiatives dedicated to nutrition. We are a key driver in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, which is a global drive to help ensure that nutrition and development programs address the challenge of undernutrition and reach all population segments in developing countries. We are also helping to raise awareness of malnutrition among the general public.

At the UN General Assembly in New York in September, we launched Future Fortified, a campaign that supports multinutrient supplements and nutritious foods for infants and young children under the age of two. These interventions complement breastfeeding and provide important nutrients for infants aged 6 to 24 months. Helping over 500 million people With GAIN’s support, over 500 million people in more than 30 countries are benefiting from more nutritious food.

As we move forward, we will expand our influence along the value chain from farm to fork. We will reorganize our programs into four initiatives: large-scale food fortification; multinutrient supplements; nutritious foods for infants and young children under the age of two and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding; and integrating agriculture and nutrition.

While continuing to support our current portfolio, we will focus our efforts on six core countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Nigeria. We thank our dedicated partners who fight to improve global nutrition. Our collaborative approach will enable us to achieve impact at scale and continue to gather momentum.

Jay Naidoo, Chairman, GAIN Board, Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director, GAIN

Originally posted on GAIN.

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