Message-ID: <s1971f1d.051@jsi.com> Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 11:35:48 -0400 From: Project Omni <mailto:omni_project@JSI.COM> Subject: XVII IVACG MEETING IN GUATEMALA To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿE "SCIENTIFIC" AND "PROGRAMMATIC" COME TOGETHER TO FIGHT VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY AT THE XVII IVACG MEETING IN GUATEMALA ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ"Virtual Elimination of Vitamin A Deficiency: Obstacles and Solutions for the Year 2000" was the theme of the XVII International Vitamin A Consultative Group (IVACG) Meeting, held March 18-22 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Representatives from 66 countries were among the 484 policymakers, programmers, and scientists in health, nutrition, agriculture, and development who attended the meeting.USAID which supports a variety of programs through the OMNI Project to combat vitamin A deficiency, sponsored 60 participants to attend the five-day meeting. Among the USAID/OMNI-sponsored group were representatives from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Egypt. For these participants, the meeting provided an opportunity to share project experiences from their countries, to strengthen working relationships, to make valuable contacts, and to gather useful information all in one place in order to develop and implement policy and to strengthen national programs.
New data on the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency showed that progress is being made. More countries recognize the existence of vitamin A deficiency as a public health problem than at the time of the last IVACG meeting in 1994. In addition, the World Health Organization documented a shift in the severity of vitamin A deficiency being reported at the country level. Several countries have moved from the severe vitamin A deficiency category to the subclinical category.
As a result the IVACG Meeting being in Guatemala, where sugar fortification has been implemented successfully, this year's meeting had a greater emphasis on fortification than ever before. Fifty of the participants visited a nearby vitamin A premix factory and sugar mill.
The Guatemalans shared their more than 20 years of experience in fortification including problems they have encountered over the years. These include the lack of quality assurance and problems with the high humidity and its effect on the vitamin A fortificant. OMNI introduced its newly published three-volume Manual for Sugar Fortification with Vitamin A, which was received with great interest by meeting attendees which will result in those responsible for vitamin A fortification of sugar in other countries having the most recent technical information at hand.
For the OMNI program managers attending the meeting IVACG offered a rare opportunity to work with all of their country groups face-to-face in one location. They were also able to bring people together from different countries facing similar issues to share what has worked or not worked in micronutrient interventions. The participant from Nicaragua, for example, met the participants from Bolivia and discussed Bolivia's recent sugar fortification experience. For OMNI Project Director Dr. Ian Darnton-Hill, one of the most exciting things to come out of this year's meeting was the results of a study on home gardens presented by Martin Bloem of Helen Keller International (HKI). "We already know that the income generated from home gardens generally goes to women who spend more on food and who, as they become more empowered, generally have fewer but better nourished children. But Martin's presentation, based on work done in Bangladesh, showed for the first time that home gardens actually had a biological impact on both mothers' diarrhea and on maternal night blindness," said Dr. Darnton-Hill. "While there tends to be a feeling of tension at these meetings between the pure scientists and the increasing number of programmatic people attending, Bloem's study was the best example of the scientific and the programmatic coming together."
The XVII IVACG Meeting was co-hosted by the International Vitamin A Consultative Group and a local organizing committee coordinated by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), and funded by USAID. IVACG is administered by the OMNI Partner, International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). The International Vitamin A Consultative Group was established in 1975 to guide international activities aimed at reducing vitamin A deficiency in the world.
***************************************************************************** OPPORTUNITIES FOR MICRONUTRIENT INTERVENTIONS (OMNI) is funded by the Office of Health and Nutrition of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. and managed by John Snow, Inc. OMNI's mission is accomplished by developing integrated, comprehensive programs and strategies to reduce and eliminate major micronutrient deficiencies throughout the developing world. Participating countries are based on their micronutrient malnutrition problems, commitment by local officials (public and private) to micronutrient activities, and their capacity to achieve and sustain a demonstrable impact.
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