SIGHT AND LIFE has been at the forefront of efforts to improve vitamin A nutrition in the developing world for over 20 years.
SIGHT AND LIFE provides vitamin A, mostly in the form of capsules, to supplementation projects that enable the free distribution of these capsules to children, women and other groups most at risk of vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. To ensure the supplements are provided safely and in accordance with international guidelines and recommendations, SIGHT AND LIFE extends technical assistance on vitamin A to project proponents and partners.
Since DSM took over SIGHT AND LIFE in 2003, the focus on vitamin A has given way to a wider attention to other essential micronutrients, such as iron, and multiple micronutrient supplements that take into account the interaction of the different micronutrients and their deficiencies on overall human nutrititure. Technical assistance is also provided on Nutritional Anemia as well as emerging issue areas, such as the Double Burden of Malnutrition .
With the introduction of other micronutrients and multi-micronutrient supplementation approaches, SIGHT AND LIFE’s original focus on assistance in Supplementation alone has also expanded to include In-Home Fortification. Through this form of nutritional intervention, SIGHT AND LIFE provides multi-micronutrient sachets containing lower doses of each micronutrient that are safer to consume through self-administration, while achieving a broader impact on nutritional status through the interaction of the multiple micronutrients.
In In-Home Fortification programs, individually-packed vitamin and mineral mixtures in powdered form are provided to beneficiaries so they can add these during food preparation at home or in school feeding programs. | |
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