Micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) can lead to devastating health consequences including higher risks for anemia, blindness, cognitive impairments, poor birth outcomes, infections, and mortality. New data in a forthcoming publication in Lancet Global Health indicates alarming levels of MND across all global contexts. There is an increasing need to ensure that everyone has access to a variety of micronutrient–dense foods. Join this panel discussion on Monday, 17 October 2022 to learn about the magnitude of micronutrient malnutrition worldwide and ways to accelerate progress through cost-effective and scalable actions.
*Simultaneous interpretation in French and Spanish is available.
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Event Information
Speakers
Saskia Osendarp, Executive Director, Micronutrient Forum
Saskia Osendarp is the Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, an international organization and knowledge-broker on micronutrient malnutrition. She has over 25 years of research experience in nutrition in the public and private sectors with over 50 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.She is a visiting Associate Professor, Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University, Netherlands. She is the co-founder and co-lead of Standing Together for Nutrition (ST4N) Consortium, a collaboration of nutrition, health, economics and food-systems experts analyzing the impact and responses of COVID-19 on malnutrition. She is also a member of the Independent Expert Group of the Global Nutrition Report.
Mduduzi Mbuya, Director, Knowledge Leadership, GAIN
Mduduzi Mbuya is Director, Knowledge Leadership with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). He has worked for over two decades on nutrition sensitive programs and policy in LMIC, and in his current role at GAIN he is responsible for research and evaluation. He works with colleagues to generate and use evidence to guide improved design and implementation of food systems programs and to fill critical gaps in the global evidence.
Emorn Udomkesmalee, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Thailand
Emorn Udomkesmalee is the Senior Advisor and Former Director of the Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Thailand. She holds a current position of Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA. Internationally, she’s the former Member of the Board of Directors of the Micronutrient Forum and currently serves on the Standing Together for Nutrition (ST4N) Consortium; Technical Advisory Group for Global Anemia Exemplars; Scientific Committee of Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy as well as Scientific Director of ILSI Southeast Asia Region. Her research interests include micronutrients; efficacy of food-based interventions; maternal and child nutrition policy and program implementation.
Jonathan Gorstein, Deputy Director, Nutrition, BMGF
Jonathan Gorstein is currently a Deputy Director on the Nutrition Team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and serves as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. He has been working to support the design and implementation of nutrition programs in developing countries with a focus on capacity building, monitoring and evaluation. He serves on global task forces for the World Health Organization, as well as several editorial boards of international public health nutrition journals. He has worked with international agencies, International NGOs and as a consultant to several Ministries of Health. He served as the Executive Director of the Iodine Global Network and has been working to support Universal Salt Iodization programs for over twenty-five years to achieve optimal iodine nutrition in countries throughout the world.
Anabelle Bonvecchio Arenas, Director of Research in Nutrition Policies and Programs, National Institute of Public Health Nutrition and Health Research Center, Mexico.
Anabelle Bonvecchio Arenas is the Director of Research in Nutrition Policies and Programs at the National Institute of Public Health, a professor in the Master of Public Health Program and is the leader of the Research Line in Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition at the INSP. She belongs to the National System of Researchers of Mexico and to the National Academy of Medicine. She is a nutritionist from the Central University of Venezuela, has a Master in Public Health from Emory University, Atlanta, and a Ph.D in Public Health, Health Systems, from the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico. She is member of the Board of Director of the Micronutrient Forum and the steering committee of the Standing Together for Nutrition, of the Latin American Nutrition Society, among others.
Nita Dalmiya, Senior Nutrition Adviser, Knowledge, Advocacy & Partnerships Lead, UNICEF
Nita Dalmiya leads UNICEF’s work on knowledge, advocacy and partnerships at headquarters and as such is responsible for providing global strategic and thought leadership on data, knowledge, global partnerships and governance for UNICEF-supported nutrition programs. Nita has over twenty years of professional experience in public health nutrition across Asia and Africa. Until recently, Nita was spearheading UNICEF’s efforts on maternal nutrition and low birth weight prevention. She has published extensively on micronutrient supplementation, food fortification, low birth weight prevention and equity in public health. Nita Dalmiya has a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in medical anthropology from Smith College.
Ty Beal, Research Advisor, Knowledge Leadership, GAIN
Ty is a global nutrition scientist for GAIN who generates evidence to guide programs and mobilize knowledge related to global nutrition and food systems. His research seeks to understand what people eat and how it impacts their health and the planet. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
Moderator
Tanuja Rastogi, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Micronutrient Forum
Tanuja Rastogi is the Director of Advocacy and Communications at the Micronutrient Forum. She has 20 years of international development and partnership experience. Tanuja’s dedication to nutrition began examining diet patterns and disease risk in inner-city hospitals in India; this piqued her interest. She earned a doctorate in nutrition epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health, followed by 14 years at the UN World Food Programme at the nexus of evidence, programs, policy and advocacy.
