News: When was the last time a UN agency got a "Business Innovation Award"?

The 2008 ICIS Award for "Best Business Innovation" was given to a joint initiative of the Dutch company DSM and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Together, they developed "MixMe" powder sachets to provide people in developing countries with micronutrients that can be mixed with food at home.

The food enriching micronutrient powder "MixMe" will enable the World Food Programme, the UN's frontline agency for hunger solutions, to bring better food assistance to the hungry poor.

In addition to the almost one billion people who are hungry there are close to another billion of people in this world who seem not to suffer from hunger at first glance but are suffering from a deficiency in micronutrients (the so-called "hidden hunger"). These people appear to have enough to eat, but often eat mainly carbohydrate rich foods such as rice or maize which do not provide the essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) needed for good health and therefore they develop all kinds of diseases such as anemia and blindness.

The "MixMe" "home food fortification" is a novel approach to the enrichment of food with micronutrients.

This year alone, the "MixMe" sachets will reach over 250,000 people in Nepal, Kenya and Bangladesh. WFP and DSM plan to substantially increase the coverage area in the coming years to reach millions of people. (Full)

More posts on The Road about food aid and hunger.

Picture courtesy Christian Farnsworth (WFP)