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E. TURNER, SUSTAIN (Sharing United States Technology to Aid in the Improvement of Nutrition), 1050 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Ste. 1000, Washington, DC 20036 More than 800 million people in the world are malnourished in nutrients and/or micronutrients. Nearly all of these are from developing countries and some 177 million of them are children. Childhood and maternal underweight; and iron deficiency are two of the top ten preventable global risks for disease, disability and death identified by the World Health Organization. Thirty out of 100 children born in 2000 will likely suffer from malnutrition in the first five years of life. Malnutrition is implicated in half of all childhood deaths worldwide, and can severely affect the physical and cognitive development of those who live with it. It is both a consequence and a cause of poverty. It is also preventable. SUSTAIN’s mission is to share food science and technical expertise to improve nutrition in developing countries. We do this by engaging industry as an ally in projects to accelerate the development and application of technologies that enhance the nutritive quality of widely consumed foods. We believe that industry has a crucial role to play in alleviating global malnutrition. This talk will focus on how industry knowledge and resources can be applied to enhance nutrition for at-risk populations. It will describe some of the past successes SUSTAIN (“Sharing U.S. Technology to Aid in the Improvement of Nutrition”) has had in marshalling industry expertise to address specific nutritional challenges, including iron deficiency, the most common nutritional disorder worldwide. Specifically highlighted will be industry’s participation in SUSTAIN’s recent initiative to assess the efficacy of elemental iron powders, the most commonly used iron fortificants worldwide; and the highly successful collaborative discussions generated between industry and the international research community at SUSTAIN’s international March, 2003 workshop: “Innovative Ingredient Technologies to Enhance Iron Absorption”.
Session 43, International outreach through global partnerships
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