UNITED NATIONS - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : Bill Gates' charitable foundation is leading a new alliance to fight malnutrition in the developing world, underwriting the bulk of the program, and enlisting food and vitamin producers.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition aims to eliminate vitamin and mineral deficiencies by fortifying foods such as rice, sugar, maize and oil. The initiative was announced Thursday at the United Nations' children's summit.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed dlrs 50 million to the alliance over the next five years _ the majority of its dlrs 70 million budget. Other donors include the Canadian and U.S. governments. Kraft Foods Inc., Procter & Gamble and Swiss drug company Roche, which makes vitamins, are also members of the alliance.
``We see this initiative as both extremely important on its own and an example of private-public partnership that can bring together the skills and resources necessary to address the prime needs of the world's children,'' said Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp.
About 2 billion people around the world suffer from deficiencies of micronutrients _ vitamins and minerals such as iodine, folic acid, vitamin A and iron that are essential for healthy development.
Deficiencies of vitamin A, iron and iodine are estimated to cost some countries the equivalent of 5 percent of their GDP in lost lives, disability and reduced productivity. Vitamin deficiencies are the leading cause of mental retardation in Africa.
``Micronutrient deficiencies are really a terrible thing, but once you get the system in place to get them into the basic food chain, the cost of sustaining them is very low,'' Gates said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Gates has been a strong supporter of public-private partnerships. A donation from his foundation was the catalyst for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. That organization works with the pharmaceutical industry to provide vaccines for the developing world.
The details of the latest alliance are still being developed but a key strategy is using technologies developed by Proctor & Gamble and Kraft to fortify drinks and foods they already sell and apply them to diet staples in the developing world. The alliance also plans to help address legislative and regulatory barriers to food fortification as well as work with countries and non-governmental agencies to establish quality controls.
Proctor & Gamble chairman John Pepper acknowledged his company's participation would be viewed by some as a way to help marketing efforts in the developing world. The company already sells a fortified juice in several countries.
Pepper expects some financial benefit from joining the alliance. ``I think that is important because it funds future development,'' he said.
The alliance will not pay Proctor & Gamble or any other company for its technology and will not market their prepared foods. Any financial gain will be derived from a friendly government and consumer environment for fortified food created by the alliance in the developing world, said Duff Gillespie, a member of the alliance's interim board and a senior health official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
``The alliance has no intention of giving money to these companies, not even for technological assistance,'' said Gillespie. ``But there has to be some benefit for them to get them interested. We believe we can balance our public health object with their need for profits.''
``The alliance's aim is purely philanthropic,'' Gates said.:
