In a call for action endorsed by Food Fortification Initiative, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Helen Keller International, Iodine Global Network, Nutrition International, the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, UNICEF and the World Food Programme, this brief asserts that tackling vitamin and mineral deficiencies, through fortification and other interventions, strengthens community health and resilience to disease and should be prioritized as part of global and national responses to COVID-19.
Download the brief : COVID-19 is making it harder for vulnerable people to access healthy food Strengthening large scale food fortification should be part of the response. October 2020. 9 pages
- This brief makes the case for large scale staple food fortification as a critically important tool to fight malnutrition in general, and even more so during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
- In the context of a deepening crisis of hunger and malnutrition brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, fortifying staple foods such as maize meal, rice, wheat flour, cooking oil, and salt with essential vitamins and minerals becomes even more important in helping to make a more nutritious diet affordable and available to all.
- Fortification is an inexpensive and efficient way to increase the vitamin and mineral content of foods that people consume every day. It is an essential tool in the toolbox alongside dietary diversification and targeted provision of vitamin and mineral supplements.
- Gerda Verburg (Moderator) - UN Assistant Secretary General and SUN Movement Coordinator
- Anna Lartey - Director, Food and Nutrition, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Member of SUN Executive Committee
- Kazi Zebunnessa Begum - Additional Secretary, Health Services Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh
- Engidu Legesse - General Manager at Guts Agro Industry PLC, Ethiopia
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