the full range of micronutrients, working to combat hidden
hun-ger in the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Enhancing research in the prevention of micronutrient defi
ciencies
“Since our inception,” explains Dr Klaus Kraemer, Managing
Direc-tor of Sight and Life, “we have run projects with Johns
Hopkins Uni-versity Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Sight
and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute is dedicated to
enhancing research in assessing and preventing micronutrient defi
ciencies through stren-gthening faculty, doctoral scholarship, and
academic activities, and providing professional opportunities for
students.” Initiatives currently running within the institute
include the following:
DSM | Sight and Life Scholars ProgramGuiding doctoral and
master’s degree students toward careers fo-cused on improving
quality of diet.
The Sight and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute The Sight
and Life Global Nutrition Research Institute at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health was founded in 2014, replacing a
predecessor institution that had been created in 1998. The
partnership between Sight and Life and Johns Hopkins goes back a
full four decades, however. It commenced in the mid-1980s, when the
then Dean of Johns Hopkins, Prof. Al Sommer, and Hoff mann-La Roche
collaborated on the development of a novel capsule form of vitamin
A. Two and a half million of these capsules were donated to victims
of the Ethiopian Civil War, who were suff ering from famine and
were at risk of xerophthalmia, or night blindness – a disease
caused by lack of vitamin A.
Sight and Life’s original activities included the provision of
scientifi c and technical advice, free distribution of vitamin A
capsules, and fi nancial support for selected research programs. In
2003, responsibility for Sight and Life was transferred to DSM.
Shortly aft erwards, the organization broadened its focus to
cover
Action in Brief
Partners in Preventing Micronutrient Defi cienciesSight and
Life, DSM and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
This overview documents the partnership between Sight and Life,
Royal DSM N.V. (and, prior to 2003, Hoff mann-La Roche) and Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health – a partnership driven by
the common objective of preventing vitamin A and other
micronutrient defi ciencies in impoverished and undernourished
regions of the world.
© S
ight
and
Life
Micronutrient Reference LaboratoryFacilitating the conduct of a
wider range of micronutrient assays.
Quality-of-Diet / Micronutrient Research Faculty PositionFunding
a new tenure track position to support the mission of ‘Hopkins
Global Nutrition’.
Accelerate Hidden Hunger AssessmentEnabling the assessment of
multiple micronutrient defi ciencies more quickly and at low cost
in low-resource settings.
Sight and Life / DSM Lectureship and Scholar-in-Residence in
Micronutrient Defi ciency Prevention and ControlExposing students
and faculty to advanced approaches in the prevention of
micronutrient defi ciencies.
Johns Hopkins / Sight and Life Internship ProgramPlacing
masters’ degree students into fi eld, agency, institutional and
research projects aimed at preventing micronu-trient defi ciencies
and improving the quality of diets.
Institute OperationsSupporting activities including the
publication of research fi ndings in open access journals.
Scrip AwardIn 2018, Sight and Life, DSM and Dhaka-based Beximco
Pharma won a Scrip Award in the category ‘Community Partnership’.
The award was given in recognition of the Sight and Life Global
Nutri-tion Research Institute’s support of the JiVitA Project, a
commu-nity-based research project that is seeking to reduce the
health burden of micronutrient defi ciencies among women and
children in rural Bangladesh.
In 2008, Beximco Pharma produced 16 million multiple
micronu-trient (MM) and iron-folic acid (IFA) tablets, using a DSM
vitamin and mineral premix, for a JiVitA study of 45,000 pregnant
women (called JiVitA-3). The trial showed that taking a daily MM
supple-ment throughout pregnancy off ered greater health benefi ts
over an IFA supplement alone, reducing the numbers of preterm, low
birth weight and still born infants by 10%–15%. “The Sight and Life
Global Nutrition Research Institute is evolv-ing well,” says Prof.
Keith P West Jr, Professor of Infant and Child Nutrition and
Director of the Program and Center for Human Nu-trition at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
“but if we are to rise to the global nutrition challenges that
confront us on all sides, we need to develop a new generation of
biologists who understand public health, who are committed to
nutrition ad-vocacy, and who want to work in underserved and obese
commu-nities. We want to ‘jet-propel’ students into careers in
nutrition on the understanding that good nutrition is essential for
the future of the human race.” Feike Sijbesma, CEO & Chairman,
Royal DSM N.V., comments:
“What binds this partnership together is a common vision and
sense of purpose. All three partners want to address the global
scourge of malnutrition and to make the world a better place. The
partnership would never have survived so long without this com-mon
vision and accompanying strong commitment.”
Further informationWebsite: sightandlife.org Email:
[email protected] Telephone: +41 61 815 87 56
© P
aul J
. Bro
wn
© A
l Som
mer
Prof. Alfred Sommer examining the eyes of a young child with
xerophthalmia in Indonesia in 1976, during the fi rst year of a
large-scale, three-year study that was to change the world.
Mother and baby participating in the JiVitA Project – one of the
largestpopulation health and nutrition intervention research
projects in South Asia. Operational since 2001 in northwest rural
Bangladesh, the project was established by the Center for Human
Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University under the auspices of the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of
Bangladesh for the purpose of conducting research on interventions
to prevent micronutrient defi ciencies and their health
consequences in mothers, infants and children.
