Editor's Spotlight: Q&A at Nutrition 2019, Baltimore, June 8-11

Micronutrient Forum executive director talks about group's activities to combat global micronutrient deficiencies

26-Jun-2019 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 13:36 GMT

To accomplish its goal of reducing micronutrient deficiencies around the world, the 13-year-old Micronutrient Forum recently went through a revamp. We caught up with its first ever executive director, Dr Saskia Osendarp, at the Nutrition 2019 meeting to learn more about the organization’s work.

Dr Osendarp was appointed as The Micronutrient Forum’s executive director in December 2018. Under her guidance, the organization hopes to increase the volume of consulting work it does for the public, private, and international development sectors to ensure equitable access to micronutrients around the world.

The forum was first established in 2006, merging two organizations: The International Nutritional Anemia Consultative Group and the International Vitamin A Consultative Group. The merge and transition was funded by the US Agency for International Aid (USAID).

Conferences have been the main platform for the organization’s work, convening scientific experts with policymakers and private sector stakeholders to exchange ideas and plans to increase micronutrient intakes.

"We want to contribute to filling in the knowledge gap," Dr Osendarp told us at the Nutrition 2019 conference, an annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition held in Baltimore earlier this month.

In November 2018, it released a new strategic plan for 2019-2021, which outlines how the organization’s work supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals through advocacy, consulting, and convening.

The next Micronutrient Forum Global Conference, which will be it’s fifth, will take place in Bangkok on March 23-27, 2020. Previous conferences were held in Istanbul in 2007, Beijing in 2009, Addis Ababa in 2014, and Cancun in 2016.

Watch the video above to learn more.