Royal DSM, World Vision announce partnership to nourish millions of the world's most vulnerable children
* Working together to achieve lasting progress in global health and
development by improving the nutritional status of mothers and children
* Flagship programme in Tanzania to fortify maize flour with essential
micronutrients
22 May 2013 - Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences
company, and World Vision, a global development organization, will announce on
23 May an ambitious partnership to nourish the world's most vulnerable children.
By 2016, the DSM-World Vision partnership aims to contribute to the reduction of
the 165 million children under-five across the globe who are stunted. The
collaboration will see both organizations jointly leverage their expertise,
resources and reach in order to address undernutrition - the root cause of
stunting and one-third of preventable child deaths.
The partnership between DSM and World Vision will focus on fortifying staple
foods like maize, wheat and rice with essential micronutrients. Food
fortification has been recognized by economists and health experts as one of the
safest and most cost-effective ways to improve the nutrition of whole
populations.
"As the world's leading producer of vitamins and other micronutrients we have a
clear responsibility to help solve the globe's most solvable problem: hidden
hunger. Our partnership with World Vision will help provide nourishment to
millions of vulnerable children. We will begin our work together in Tanzania,
where we will fortify flour and build local capacity and understanding to
provide genuinely sustainable solutions," says Royal DSM's Managing Board Member
Stephan Tanda.
The flagship of the partnership is the Miller's Pride project in Tanzania's Dar
es Salaam. This programme will fortify maize flour with essential
micronutrients, reaching a population of millions. In addition to the
fortification, DSM and World Vision will work with the millers to build business
expertise, improve food safety and increase markets and profits for the millers.
Without adequate nutrition in the 1,000 days between a woman's pregnancy and her
child's second birthday, the damage to that child's physical and mental
development is largely irreversible. Currently one-third of children under-five
in developing countries suffer stunting.
"We believe our unique partnership with DSM will save lives, while improving
children's educational achievement and future earning potential," says World
Vision International President Kevin Jenkins. Â "Evidence shows nutrition is the
best investment we can make to achieve lasting progress in global health and
development."
The partnership will also see the organizations working to ensure nutrition for
mothers and children is high on the agenda of global decision makers.
"As an organization working with vulnerable children in nearly 100 countries, we
have learned poverty is complicated, but proper nutrition is a master-key that
unlocks many of the chains," says Kevin Jenkins. "As the world strives to define
targets to follow the Millennium Development Goals, we, DSM and our partners in
the Scaling Up Nutrition movement are emphasizing that well-nourished children
are more robust, do better at school, earn higher incomes and raise healthier
children of their own."
The partnership is to be signed by Kevin Jenkins and Stephan Tanda on Thursday,
23 May at a side event of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
The side event, called New Partnerships for Nutrition, will explore the
complementary roles of government, civil society and business in ensuring that
children and women have access to better nutrition. Panelists include the World
Health Organization's Director of Nutrition for Health and Development,
Francesco Branca; The Netherland's Special Envoy Food and Nutrition Security for
Development, Paulus Verschuren; Tanzania's Minister of Health and Social
Welfare, Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi; and Director of The Partnership for Maternal,
Newborn & Child Health, Dr Carole Presern.
For more information and interview opportunities, please contact:
DSM Enquires:
Eric Drosin, Corporate Communications
Email: eric.drosin@ dsm.com
Tel: +31 6 1300 1159
World Vision Enquries:
Valeria Habersatter, Director of Communications World Vision Switzerland
Email: v.habersatter@worldvision.ch
Tel: +41 44 510 1420
World Vision
World Vision is a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organization
dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty
and injustice. For more information about World Vision and its work visit:
www.wvi.org
DSM - Bright Science. Brighter Living.(TM)
Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and
materials. By connecting its unique competences in Life Sciences and Materials
Sciences DSM is driving economic prosperity, environmental progress and social
advances to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. DSM delivers
innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global
markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed,
pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and
electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials. DSM's
23,500 employees deliver annual net sales of around €9 billion. The company is
listed on NYSE Euronext. More information can be found at www.dsm.com
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