Global Campaign Charges Ahead to Reach the Unreached

SANTA BARBARA, CA--(Marketwire - September 24, 2008) - The growing food shortage has recently reached crisis proportions in some countries around the world. Rising fuel prices, the diversion of land to grow biofuel instead of food crops and the increasing global population, have conspired to create the most significant food crisis in over 30 years.

This plight is most prevalent in poor countries where malnutrition is already a major public health problem causing sickness and death from otherwise treatable illnesses. In September 2007, direct vitamin A supplementation was recognized as one of the key strategies responsible for reducing early childhood deaths to below 10 million in 2006, which is a "first" in modern history.

In a given day, there is an estimated 134 million children up to 5 years of age in the developing world that are vitamin A deficient. That is six times the number of preschool-aged children in the United States. What's worse, approximately 650,000 children will die this year from preventable infectious diseases, such as diarrhea, measles and malaria because their vitamin A status has left their immune systems too weak to fight the disease.

"Vitamin A deficiency remains a major nutritional and health burden across the most disadvantaged populations of the developing world," says Howard Schiffer, founder of Vitamin Angels, a nonprofit organization working to reduce deaths in children under 5 around the world by connecting vital nutrition in the form of essential micronutrients, especially vitamin A.

Vitamin Angels' aggressive campaign, Operation 20/20, whose end goal is to reduce childhood blindness and deaths caused by vitamin A deficiency worldwide by the year 2020, is now reaching 5.5 million children in need in 17 countries around the world. To further validate and shape its campaign strategy, Vitamin Angels commissioned a report from leading nutrition experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The report, authored by Keith West, Ph.D. and Monica Fox, M.H.S. of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, serves as a roadmap for Vitamin Angels' contribution to this worldwide health crisis. One of the report's key findings is the emergence of an important, new potential area of program involvement that could double the number of young child lives saved each year from vitamin A supplementation. The new program would involve vitamin A supplementation for newborns in conjunction with reaching postpartum mothers.

"Supplementing newborns could save 250,000 infant lives each year in Southern Asia alone," says Schiffer who emphasizes that Vitamin Angels' cost for entire program including the two vitamin A capsules per year is only pennies per child. "Vitamin A supplementation is an effective and inexpensive intervention to prevent childhood blindness, other serious illnesses and premature deaths."

Based on the report's conclusions, Vitamin Angels plans to collaborate in dietary supplementation programs that stress both conventional and innovative distribution mechanisms able to improve availability, access and use of vitamin A. These programs will focus their efforts in regions and countries with the greatest need, concentrate on underserved populations and advocate for newly proven approaches for micronutrient distribution. Vitamin Angels also plans to engage in efforts to connect vitamin A supplementation with newborns, to further reduce infant mortality, while contributing to the formation of policies required to bring this intervention to scale. For more information about Vitamin Angels and how to help go to: http://www.VitaminAngels.org.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Amy Summers 727-848-1618 ext. 202 Pitch Inc.