Food-Based Approaches for Combating Iron Deficiency

Abstract

Protection Division where he advises member countries on the development and implementation of strategies and plans of action for improving food security and nutritional well being. Brian is an advocate for the adoption of socially con-structive development policies. Iron deficiency is a serious and widespread public health problem. The scale and magnitude of the problem combined with the functional impact such deficiencies have on the quality of life, both physiologically and socioeconomically, require the urgent adoption of known and effective mea-sures. However, the focus of development practi-tioners on their own narrow area of interest or expertise, be it health care or food, has prevented the realization of a truly comprehensive approach being taken to tackle this critical problem. This chapter is an effort to correct this imbalance and to place food-based approaches back into the cen-ter of the debate and to encourage their adoption on a broader scale as a matter of priority.