News and Events
Gates Foundation Announces $25 Million Grant to Support Innovative Nutrition Program for Poor Countries
HarvestPlus program will fight malnutrition—a
leading cause of child deaths—with new agricultural
technology
SEATTLE – The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation today announced a $25 million grant
to the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) to combat malnutrition, a leading cause of child
deaths in the developing world, by improving the nutritional
quality of staple foods in developing countries.
The grant will support HarvestPlus, a global research
initiative to breed and disseminate crops for better
nutrition, which is being spearheaded by the International
Center for Tropical Agricultural Research (CIAT) and
the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Using an innovative approach called biofortification,
agricultural and nutrition scientists will work together
to breed crops that provide higher levels of micronutrients
such as iron, zinc, and vitamin A.
“Vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which contribute
to the deaths of millions of children each year, can
be easily prevented by adding just a few key nutrients
to staple foods,” said David Fleming, Director
of Global Health Strategies at the Gates Foundation.
“HarvestPlus, working with partners around the
globe, has the potential to dramatically improve the
lives of poor children and their families who depend
largely upon these staples for their diets.”
Malnutrition contributes to over half of child deaths
in the developing world, and the UN estimates that nearly
one-third of the world’s population suffers from
deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and
vitamin A. Even mild levels of micronutrient malnutrition
can damage cognitive and physical development, lower
disease resistance in children, and reduce the likelihood
that mothers survive childbirth. Iron deficiency alone
affects over 3.5 billion people in the developing world
and is responsible for 100,000 maternal deaths during
childbirth each year. Vitamin A deficiency causes more
than 500,000 children to go blind each year and is a
leading cause of child mortality.
“Those most affected by malnutrition, the rural
poor, are also the most difficult to reach with traditional
nutrition programs,” said Howarth Bouis, Director
of HarvestPlus. “Biofortified crops have the potential
to transform the health of these communities by allowing
them to grow crops that are naturally fortified with
essential micronutrients.”
The first crops to be developed by the HarvestPlus
initiative include those most widely consumed in the
developing world, such as rice, wheat, maize, beans,
cassava, and sweet potato.
“HarvestPlus provides a remarkable opportunity
to harness twenty-first century agricultural science
to dramatically improve children’s health over
the long term,” noted Joachim Voss, Director of
CIAT, which is leading crop breeding research for HarvestPlus.
“This grant will enable biofortification researchers
to accelerate their work adding nutrition into existing
high-yielding varieties that meet the needs of poor
farmers.”
Biofortification represents an important new avenue
for agricultural research. Traditionally, crop breeding
has often centered on increasing yields or enhancing
environmental sustainability.
“Adding healthier food to the agricultural research
agenda is an idea whose time has come,” said Joachim
von Braun, Director General of IFPRI, which is directing
nutrition and policy research for HarvestPlus. “Together
with conventional strategies for improving nutrition,
such as fortification, supplementation, and diversification
of food in diets, this approach holds enormous potential.
It will require a strong partnerships among agriculture
and nutrition specialists.”
With the funding announced today, HarvestPlus will
be able to substantially accelerate the development
of crop varieties under its alliance of international
and national agricultural research institutes, university
nutrition and food crop programs, the private sector,
and non-governmental organizations in the developing
and developed world. The grant from the Gates Foundation
provides one-half of the total $50 million that will
be needed for HarvestPlus over an initial four-year
period. It is hoped that grants from the World Bank,
USAID and Denmark will account for approximately 40
percent of the required funding, and the remaining 10
percent is currently being sought from a number of potential
donors.
“The Gates Foundation's support for HarvestPlus
is welcome recognition of the value of innovative approaches
to solving global problems," said Ian Johnson,
Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World
Bank and Chairman of the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that supports CIAT, IFPRI
and other agricultural research partners. "The
research program links the agriculture and public health
sectors and creates a public-private partnership for
tackling nutrient malnutrition. It is the latest example
of groundbreaking initiatives adopted by the agricultural
research centers of the CGIAR and their partners."
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building
upon the unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century
to improve equity in global health and learning. Led
by Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty
Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an endowment
of approximately $25 billion.
On the Internet:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, www.gatesfoundation.org
HarvestPlus, www.harvestplus.org
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