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Frances Davidson (1942–2019

da Gates Foundation and others to help start GAIN, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, with the focus on expanding the application of food technologies to improve the nutritional quality of foods in as many low-income countries as possible. The translation of science and technology into programs that were appropriate to low-income countries and that improved lives was central to her work. Recognizing the fact that if a population was defcient in one critical nutrient, such as vitamin A, there was a good chance they were defcient in others, Davidson expanded the program and policy portfolio to include a range of vital nutrients, in particular iron defciency anemia. In order to help countries document the extent of the defciency, USAID supported the development of the HemoCue, a simplifed feld tool that could be used by minimally trained feld workers to assess iron defciency. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) began using it in select country assessments.

In addition to documenting the extent of anemia in populations, Davidson and her ofce worked hard to get important nutrition indicators – such as dietary diversity to better understand nutritional defciencies and their health outcomes – included in DHS, health surveys conducted in many diferent developing countries over many years, which have been crucial in demonstrating progress, or the lack of it, in key measures of health. “The eforts of Davidson and her colleagues at USAID have advanced overall knowledge of micronutient defciencies ” The eforts of Davidson and her colleagues at USAID have advanced overall knowledge of micronutrient defciencies and their role in health and wellbeing and policies and programmatic practices to treat nutritional problems in order to promote the development of individuals and their communities. Afer retiring fom USAID, Frances became a master gardener, loved to knit, and enjoyed swimming and being with family. Her work and accomplishments in the feld of nutrition will be remembered for decades. This obituary originally appeared on the website of the World Hunger Education Service (WHES) at: htps://w.worldhunger. org/fances-davidson-noted-internatonal-expert-in-nutitondies/. Reprinted in abridged form with permission.

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IMPAc4Nutiton Using a public–private engagement approac to create a social movement in India

Madhavika Bajoria Sight and Life, Bangalore, India

Kalyani Prasher IMPAct4Nutrition Secretariat

Geetanjali Master UNICEF India

Key messages

> The Government of India has launched a social movement, POSHAN Abhiyaan jan andolan, to target malnutrition.

> IMPAct4Nutrition (I4N) is a unique public–private engagement (PPE) to bring together the diverse privatesector companies interested in contributing to the Government’s social movement.

> All I4N tools and resources are developed around POSHAN Abhiyaan guidelines, as they target key nutrition behaviors.

> Promoting nutrition in the workplace is the frst priority identifed by I4N and partnering companies because workplaces provide repeated interaction with a captive audience in a contained environment that can easily be modifed.

> The I4N platform is already reaching a combined workforce of nearly 100,000 employees and their families. high mortality rate of children under 5 years of age (39.4 percent of the registered births); it is additionally the leading cause of compromised adult health for those who do survive. When the health status of an individual is inconsistent, their productivity is low. The latest Government of India data indicates that undernourishment is currently responsible for an annual loss in adult incomes of 22 percent and an annual GDP loss of some 11 percent. 1,2

“Undernourisment in India is currently resonsible for an annual GDP loss of some 11 percent ”

According to the Copenhagen Consensus, investing in nutrition is the best public health investment one can make: for every US$1 of investment there is a return of US$16, as better health leads to better employee retention, a dip in absenteeism and increased productivity. On 8 March 2018, when the Government of India launched a massive drive to tackle malnutrition in the country, it proposed to do so by way of a jan andolan (Hindi for social movement). The Government was well aware that its ambitious fagship program, POSHAN Abhiyaan – which aims to improve the nutritional status of children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers – could not be successfl without the active and enthusiastic participation of a large stakeholder base. Right at the outset, the Government released clear guidelines on how it aims to achieve its targets by engaging players fom multiple sectors and involving the masses, thereby creating a jan andolan for nutrition.

A jan andolan for nutrition Malnutrition is a major concern in India. Almost one-third of the country’s children are stunted and over 50 percent of Indian women are anemic. Undernourishment is also the leading cause of the Public–private engagement: the role of the private sector In the POSHAN Abhiyaan jan andolan guidelines, the Government recognizes the private sector as a major driver for economic growth and its vast reach and scale as an enabler for impactfl change within its ecosystem. To convene and catalyze

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