We have another exciting opportunity at RESULTS for a passionate advocate to come join our excellent team, in a new post: Micronutrient Advocacy Officer.
Vitamin and Mineral deficiency (VMD) is a problem that has damaging impact on the health of millions of children and women around the world. Yet few people are aware of the detrimental role that this form of undernutrition has on the social and economic development of low-income countries.
The United Nations estimates that 842 million people,approximately 1 in 8 people globally do not consume sufficient food to lead an active life. Another one billion people do not intake sufficient vitamins and minerals. This can lead to complications such as child blindness, caused by Vitamin A deficiency. It is this issue, of ‘hidden hunger’, that will be the focus for a new staff member.
At RESULTS we believe the issue of Hidden Hunger deserves far more attention from donors and development agencies. We believe that Micronutrient interventions (such as fortification of flour, or distribution of vitamin A) are highly cost-effective programmes that are comparatively easy to scale-up compared to many development challenges. International efforts in this area need can be taken to scale to achieve much needed progress in this pressing area.
Undernutrition contributes to more than 3 million child deaths every year, and hidden hunger is an important part of this. Ninety percent of stunted children live in Africa (34%) and Asia (58%), and the burden of undernutrition falls unfairly on the poorest children in the world.
If you have experience in advocacy and a good understanding of undernutrition in developing countries then we would like to hear from you. We are currently advertising two jobs in our nutrition team – please see the website for details