Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition is calling for submissions to our Collection on Micronutrients in child health, their dietary adequacy in developing countries.
Insufficient micronutrient intake due to poor quality and quantity of diet is primarily responsible for this deficiency. However, both the density and bioavailability of micronutrients in the diet are important for achieving optimal micronutrient status.
New and innovative actions are necessary to ensure equitable access to nutritious, safe, and affordable diets that are micronutrient rich, particularly for women and young children globally. Three major food system approaches for the control of micronutrient malnutrition are dietary improvement, including horticulture intervention to increase production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, fortification of food with micronutrients, and supplementation of specific micronutrients. These are the most sustainable strategies to increase micronutrient status of the population. Global public health and disease control measures are also necessary. However, the success of these programs depends on strong and targeted social and behavioral change communication interventions integrated with the food system approaches.
Knowledge of the population's dietary micronutrient intake and effective intervention strategies for specific vulnerable groups are critical to inform the selection and design of proper strategies to fight micronutrient malnutrition. This Special Collection aims to address micronutrient malnutrition by providing cutting-edge scientific evidence, identifying unresolved problems and challenges, and disseminating evidence-based solutions that effectively address the issue among different age groups from different settings. This Special Collection welcomes original research, systematic review, and narrative review articles on a broad range of interventions, including but not limited to micronutrient biofortification, agriculture interventions, promotion of the intake of animal-source foods, social protection, food assistance programs, nutrition education, micronutrient supplementation, food fortification, water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions, and maternal and child nutrition programs. This Special Collection aims to inform the development of effective, sustainable, and cost-effective interventions that could be scaled up across different settings.
