Helen Keller International: Improving Nutrition Through Food Fortification

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Helen Keller International

• Improving Nutrition Through Food Fortification

July 2010
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Micronutrient Deficiencies and Food Fortification

• The practice of fortifying staple foods which is
  commonplace in industrialized countries has not
  yet taken hold everywhere.
• Micronutrient deficiencies are responsible for
  widespread health problems in the developing
  world.
• Anemia alone is a critical health issue for some
  two billion people or one third of the worlds
  total population.
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies cause premature
  death and disability in many parts of the world.

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Nearly 10000 Children Under 5 Die Every Day
Because of Malnutrition
HKI/Wendy Lee
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Helen Keller International Food Fortification
Helps Save Lives

• HKIs Food Fortification programs provide
  communities and families with more nutritious
  foods enabling people to lead healthier lives.
• We collaborate with partners on large-scale
  efforts to fortify cooking ingredients with
  essential vitamins and minerals.
• We develop channels to distribute fortificants
  that can be used in home such as Sprinkles and
  PlumpyNut.
• We promote fortified products to targeted
  populations through extensive social marketing
  campaigns.

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HKIs Food Fortification Programs Help Save Lives
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Large-Scale Food Fortification Supplies Essential
Nutrients

• HKI collaborates with partners on large-scale
  efforts to fortify essential foods. Our efforts
  include
• Fortifying cooking oil with Vitamin A. This
  initiative aims to reach 70 of the population of
  West Africa or 60 million people by the end of
  2010.
• Fortifying wheat flour a staple food with folic
  acid and iron which helps combat birth defects
  and iron deficiency.

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HKIs Work Results in Fortifying Cooking Oil with
Vitamin A
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HKI Helps Control Micronutrient Deficiencies with
In-Home Solutions

• HKI develops effective and inexpensive in-home
  solutions for families to fortify their own
  meals.
• Sprinkles This fortificant contains multiple
  micronutrients that can be added to home-cooked
  meals on a daily basis effectively reducing
  anemia in women and children. In Indonesia after
  the 2004 tsunami HKI distributed Sprinkles to
  200000 children.
• Iron supplementation to combat anemia HKI
  provides supplements to pregnant women.
• Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) such as
  PlumpyNut are nutrient-rich pastes to treat
  severe malnutrition.

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HKI Helped Victims of the 2004 Tsunami in
Indonesia by Distributing Sprinkles
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HKI Popularizes Healthy Foods with Social
Marketing
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Help Helen Keller International Save Sight
Lives Donate Today!
HKI/Carol Stein