Nutrition International (organization) facts for kids
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| Founded | 1992 |
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| Founder | International Development Research Centre |
| Focus | Healthcare, education, nutrition |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Revenue
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$42,586,795 (2016) [USD] |
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Employees
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76 head office, 256 worldwide |
Nutrition International is a group from Canada that helps kids and families around the world. They work to make sure everyone gets enough important vitamins and minerals. Before, they were called the Micronutrient Initiative (MI).
Vitamins and minerals are super important for your body, even if you only need a little bit! They help you grow strong, keep your eyes healthy, and fight off sickness. These tiny but mighty helpers are called micronutrients. When people don't get enough of them, it's called a micronutrient deficiency. This is a type of malnutrition and is a big health problem in many countries. More than two billion people around the world don't get enough vitamins and minerals.
How Nutrition International Started
In 1990, leaders from around the world met at the World Summit for Children. They set a goal to almost completely get rid of micronutrient deficiencies. To help reach this goal, the Micronutrient Initiative was created in 1992. It started as a special group within the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada.
In 1993, an executive director was hired, and some staff from IDRC joined the new organization. Venkatesh Mannar became the executive director in June 1994. Until 2000, the Micronutrient Initiative worked closely with big groups like the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), IDRC, UNICEF, The World Bank, and USAID. In 2000, it became its own independent group. Joel Spicer became the president in February 2014. In 2017, the organization changed its name to Nutrition International. This new name better showed all the different ways they were helping people.
What Nutrition International Does
Nutrition International works hard to improve health through better nutrition. They do many things to help people get the vitamins and minerals they need:
- They encourage and help fund the use of iodized salt. This means salt has a special mineral called iodine added to it, which is good for your brain.
- They give out special powders with many different micronutrients.
- They help add vitamins like vitamin A, iron, and folic acid to common foods like wheat flour. This is called "fortification."
- They also provide vitamin A, iron, zinc, and folic acid supplements.
Since 1997, with help from the Canadian government, Nutrition International has given out over eight billion doses of vitamin A. These doses are used by UNICEF and governments in different countries to help children stay healthy.
Nutrition International is also known for working with companies and businesses. They create partnerships to find new ways to improve nutrition for everyone.
Where Nutrition International Works
The team at Nutrition International includes scientists, nutritionists, and experts in how to help communities grow. Their main office is in Ottawa, Canada. But they also have offices in many other countries around the world, including:
