[ShareTompkins] Vitamin A Wars: the Downsides of Donor-driven Aid

[A Wilson]

Dear Friends and Colleagues

New from Independent Science News:
Vitamin A Wars: the Downsides of Donor-driven Aid
by Ted Greiner, Prof. of Nutrition, Hanyang University, Korea
at
http://independentsciencenews.org/

Synopsis:
Millions of preschool age children in more than 100 countries world- 
wide receive mega-dose Vitamin A capsules (VAC) twice every year at a  
cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to international donors. While  
early clinical trials suggested this might reduce mortality rates, the  
effectiveness of VAC in real-life programs has never been proven. And  
for children who do not need them Vitamin A mega-doses may cause  
health problems. Even more problematic, VAC supplementation programs  
are actively blocking potential holistic solutions (such as nutrition  
education or small scale farming) which could not only alleviate  
vitamin A deficiency, but help solve broader problems of malnutrition  
in these countries. Since VAC programs may be benefitting only the  
companies who supply the capsules, they are increasingly resented in  
host countries. In this article, Ted Greiner, Prof of Nutrition and  
former nutrition adviser to the Swedish International Development  
Agency, highlights the many problems and calls for implementation of  
an exit strategy. Donors urgently need to discuss with host countries  
how to shift priorities and funding to more sustainable food-based  
approaches that best meet each country's needs.


Please forward, post, distribute, tweet, like, link to, and recommend  
this important article to colleagues, etc with interests in  
development, aid, nutrition and sustainable farming, if you can.


Apologies for any cross-posting

Yours sincerely
Allison

Allison Wilson, PhD
Science Director
The Bioscience Resource Project
P.O. Box 6869
Ithaca, NY 14851
USA

email: a.wilson at bioscienceresource.org
phone: USA  (607) 319-0279

http://independentsciencenews.org/
and
http://www.bioscienceresource.org/

The Bioscience Resource Project
"Good with Science"






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