Opinion: Fighting hidden hunger with data

This piece was written jointly by members of the Global Fortification Data Exchange core group. Lawrence Haddad is the executive director of GAIN; Scott J. Montgomery is director of the Food Fortification Initiative; Dr. Jonathan Gorstein is executive director of the Iodine Global Network; and Homero Martinez is senior advisor to the Micronutrient Forum Secretariat.

What do blindness, stunted growth, and brain damage in children all have in common? They can all be caused by a form of malnutrition that is largely invisible and nearly entirely preventable — micronutrient deficiency, also known as hidden hunger.

Deficiency of essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, iron, folic acid, and iodine can have devastating effects. While these nutrients are only needed in very small amounts, they are essential for normal growth and optimal health. Deficiency can prevent an expectant mother from carrying to term or cause a child to endure irreversible brain damage and thereby limit his or her ability to learn, earn a living, or live a healthy life. These debilitating consequences damage whole communities, as well as economies.

Past estimates from the World Health Organization indicate that millions of people may be at risk of iodine deficiency, and 2.8 million people die annually from iron, vitamin A, or zinc deficiency.

One simple, safe, effective, and inexpensive solution is food fortification. Adding minerals and vitamins to staple foods and condiments has led to a dramatic decline in hidden hunger globally. Even so, millions of people worldwide remain vulnerable, with children and pregnant women in low-income countries disproportionately affected.

For those working to combat hidden hunger with food fortification, a new global data tool sheds light on the status of national food fortification programs, and provides data to guide informed actions toward achieving optimal micronutrient intake through food fortification.

An effective solution in need of a roadmap

The Global Fortification Data Exchange, or GFDx, launched on Sept. 6, 2017, presents data from more than 230 countries and territories for the five most commonly fortified staple foods and condiments: wheat flour, maize flour, rice, edible oils, and salt.

As fortification uses existing supply chains and provides micronutrients through the foods people eat already, it offers a way to affordably reach broad segments of the population. Many countries have nearly eliminated nutrition-related diseases such as goiter and rickets as a direct result of effective food fortification.

Micronutrient-deficiency control interventions, including food fortification, are among the most cost-effective global development investments, according to the Copenhagen Consensus, with a cost benefit ratio of roughly 1:30. By preventing undernutrition, fortification can save national economies of an estimated 2-3 percent of gross domestic product.

While food fortification has tremendous potential to significantly improve nutrition, coverage of this proven intervention is highly variable throughout the world. In many countries, progress has stalled due to a lack of investment and political will, low adherence to mandatory policies and standards, and insufficient data. Today, some of the most undernourished households have no access to fortified foods.

The path ahead: A call to action for more and better data

At present, the GFDx relies on data from governments, nongovernmental organizations, program implementers, normative agencies, donors, academia, and the private sector. The success of this resource is dependent on the ongoing contribution of data from partner organizations.

Access to a reliable, collaborative resource for tracking fortification efforts around the globe is the first step toward successful policies and programs. By consolidating all available data, the tool exposes data gaps and identifies areas where others in the nutrition community might contribute.

The GFDx is a resource to address, with unprecedented confluence of evidence, one of the most wide-reaching global health problems. Hidden hunger damages communities and the economies of entire nations; it puts expectant mothers at risk, increases mortality and impairs cognitive development of newborns, all of which undermine the efforts to end global poverty. It will take collective, sustained commitment to translate momentum into results to eliminate hidden hunger.

To find out more about your country’s fortification status or to join the conversation around data’s role in fighting hidden hunger, click here.