Multiple micronutrient interventions during early childhood: moving towards evidence-based policy and program planning.

There is considerable evidence that micronutrient deficiencies affect child health and well-being. Although the benefits of strategies that improve diet quality and micronutrient density of foods consumed by small children combined with reducing infections are well recognized as optimal for promoting young child growth and development, they have been difficult to accomplish in many resource-poor settings and few countries have clear policies in support of integrated strategies to control micronutrient deficiencies. The focus of a recent symposium that was part of the Annual Meeting of the ASN held in Anaheim in April 2010 was on how we as the scientific community can help governments and organizations design nutrition and specifically micronutrient policies and programs based on the available evidence; papers that were based on the invited presentations are included in this Supplement. The first paper is a critical review of the current state of knowledge regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of multiple micronutrient interventions in developing country settings, followed by a paper that reviews key issues in evidenced-based policy and program development and includes a relevant example from Mexico where this has occurred. These are followed by a paper that describes a systematic process that is being proposed as a method to guide policy makers and program developers to strengthen program design and performance. The final paper is a summary that highlights areas where the nutrition research community has been successful in translating evidence into policy-relevant advice and where we can improve in this process.