At next year’s G20 meeting in Canada, expect news of a big, co-ordinated global campaign [on “hidden hunger”], like the one against malaria.
Or so suggests a box in last week’s Economist, which calls the idea a no-brainer. I thought there was such a thing already. Anyway, let’s hope this new initiative on micronutrients, if it materializes, will take proper account of the contribution of dietary diversity and agrobiodiversity.
There are several global micronutrient initiatives in place. A longstanding one aimed at “hidden hunger” is the Micronutrients Initiative based in Canada (it may have migrated?), the other is GAIN based in Geneva. Within the CGIAR there is the Harvest Plus Initiative hosted at IFPRI in Washington. There are certain to be others. Many of the leading funders in nutrition including B&M Gates Foundation have invested heavily in these existing initiatives. Much work has been done using a range of approaches to increase the micro-nutrient content of foods and diets. My hope is that the “no brainer” the Economist article refers to is to examine the wide range of approaches to addressing micro-nutrient deficiencies in diets and deliver some added value and fill in current gaps in research. As the ever perspicacious Luigi Guarino has noted, a major gap remains the use of biodiversity in the form of nutrient-rich foods and condiments available in diverse agroecosystems. This offers an opportunity for communities, nutritionists, and biodiversity scientists to act now to reverse trends in the simplification of diets and agroecosystems that is associated with the nutritional impoverishments of diets.
Look forward to hearing more on this initiative; whenever the term “no brainer” is applied I know that I am fully qualified to enter into the discussion.
Thanks
Pablo
P.S. A discussion of these approaches has been published “Biofortication, biodiversity and diet: A search for complementary applications against poverty and malnutrition“. T. Johns and P.B. Eyzaguirre (2007). Food Policy 32:1-24.