adminMarc van Ameringen Correspondent
This month, the UN reported that childhood mortality had been cut in half worldwide since 1990. While this is a cause for celebration, the report also highlighted a serious gap: children in sub-Saharan Africa have a one-in-12 chance of dying before age five. For children in wealthier countries, the risk is
one-in-147.
The underlying culprit is a silent epidemic that afflicts more than a quarter of humanity — two billion people – and represents 11 percent of the global burden of disease. But unlike climate change, cancer, or global conflicts, the “cure” has existed for almost a century, and it costs pennies.
‘Hidden hunger’ is a new term for an age old problem we know how to solve. It refers to the lack of access to micro-nutrients critical to proper physical and cognitive development. In the developed world, the simple practice of food fortification has integrated essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, and folic acid into diets invisibly, effectively, and on a mass scale.
No example makes the case better than the simplest of foods: salt. Since we began adding iodine to salt in 1922 and enriched other staple foods like bread and milk, we have virtually eradicated many debilitating but preventable diseases, raised collective IQ and provided a stronger foundation for healthy, productive lives.
Yet too many countries have fallen behind. For many in the international community, addressing malnutrition is a footnote to acute health crises such as food insecurity or the outbreak of disease. However, the chronically malnourished more than twice outnumber the hungry. Sixty percent of children who die from diseases like malaria would have survived with adequate nutrition.
If we do not end malnutrition, we cannot end child mortality. That is why the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), along with partners including the African Union, Gates Foundation, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and USAID, convened in Tanzania this month to forge a strategy to eradicate hidden hunger at the Future Fortified summit. But governments will need to do their part. Rational and sustained policies are a critical ingredient to end hidden hunger by 2030.
Food fortification is among the most effective public health investments the international community can make. Every dollar spent on combating malnutrition yields $138 in health savings and increased productivity, while hidden hunger drains GDPs by 2-3 percent.
Fortifying flour with iron costs approximately 4 cents per capita annually, while treating iron-deficiency anemia, which causes one in five maternal deaths, costs $7, multiplied across the millions whose lives are uplifted by better health.
Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of mental disability worldwide, yet iodizing salt costs as little as five cents per person per year and returns $26 in increased productivity and healthcare savings. And the benefits to fulfilling every child’s potential are immeasurable.
Food fortification initiatives are underway in countries across the globe, and they are working. More than 150 countries are implementing salt iodisation programmes, 82 countries have mandated cereal grain fortification and dozens more are fortifying edible oils, sauces, and condiments with much needed nutrients.
Evidence shows that mandatory food fortification, vigorous enforcement and compliance measures are key to ensuring a healthier future for millions.
Today, broad demographic shifts, new technologies and a hyper-connected food system are opening new avenues to bring nutritious food to every child. Ninety years ago, the introduction of salt iodisation wiped out goitre and cretinism in parts of the United States and Europe, resulting in improved school completion rates and a shift toward higher-paying jobs. With improved technologies and a globalised food system, the end of hidden hunger is truly within sight.
Hidden hunger is one of the biggest global health challenges of our time, yet is among the most cost-effective to solve. Food fortification is a proven and powerful recipe that has virtually eradicated preventable diseases and improves children’s lives, but its effects have been disproportionate: child mortality rates in the developing world are a telling sign they’ve been left too far behind.
With a commitment to end hidden hunger, we can accelerate progress and help close the child mortality gap. The tools have been in our hands for nearly a century, it is time we use them better. — This Is Africa.
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