Public-Private Sector Alliances for Food Fortification: Time for Optimism

Abstract

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) was launched at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002 as a global and regional alliance of public private and civic groups committed to eliminating micronutrient deficiencies. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided GAIN with its principal funding which has been complemented by grants from international and bilateral agencies. GAINs vision is of a world in which malnutrition is no longer a human and social development constraint. In May 2002 the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children re-emphasized the micronutrient goals of the early 1990s: Achieving the sustainable elimination of vitamin A deficiency by 2010 reducing anaemia prevalence including iron deficiency by one third by 2010 and virtually eliminating iodine deficiency disorders by 2005; accelerating progress towards reduction of other micronutrient deficiencies through dietary diversification food fortification and supplementation. (excerpt)