I believe the very top priority for the coming period to improve global nutrition in high-, medium- and low income countries lies in very active promotion of national mandatory food fortification including ;
milk and milk substitute products with vitamin D;
salt with iodine; and
flour or othe equivalent common use with iron, vitamin B group, including folic acid and vitamin B12.
The international agencies and NGOs striving to promote the Sustainable Development Goals, eg. UN, WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, FAO, UNDP and others, can and should actively promote this responsibility of national government providing political, technical assistance along with incentive grants.
The Canadian model, in efffect for many years is workable and successful.
I have been in public health for over 50 yeas in Canada and Israel, with much experience in the European Region of WHO. I am lead author of a textbook called The New Public Health (Tulchinsky and Varavikova) in three editions since 2000 . We are currently workng on the fourth edition at the request of the publisher (Elsevier). Various editions have been translated and published in Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Uzbek, Mongolian, Georgian and Turkish languages. We are now working on the fourth edition.
Attached please find Proceedings of a Conference sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Health, the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians and Ashkelon College on Micronutrient Deficiencies and food fortification in Israel (7 November 2019). THe Ministry presented new evidence-based policies on food fortification.
I would be glad to hear from persons and organizations interested in this topic.
Best wishes.
Theodore H (Ted) Tulchinsky MD MPH
Emeritus, Braun School of Public Health, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Emeritus, Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel
Dr. Theodore Tulchinsky MD MPH