Summary

Progress has been made in reducing clinical vitamin A deficiency, but more needs to be done to reduce subclinical vitamin A deficiency, which has significant consequences. The success of salt iodization for controlling iodine deficiency disorders continues to spread; monitoring and sustain-ability are now key concerns. Iron deficiency and its most serious manifestation, anaemia, continue to undermine human potential. Unlike VAD and IDD, there is no clearly effective, widely applicable solution to iron deficiency, though a combination of approaches can make inroads. Operational research remains a major priority, as well as better advocacy for greater attention to combating this invisible scourge.

Overlaps and interactions between micronutrients are likely to be widespread, possibly affecting one in two children with any single deficiency. This fact argues strongly, both operationally and biologically, for multiple micronutrient supplementation and fortification. Such overlaps and interactions undoubtedly occur with regard to micronutrients we know relatively little about.