Throughout the world, an estimated two billion people are affected by a chronic deficiency of essential vitamins and minerals, together known as "hidden hunger".
The signs of undernutrition and hunger are less clearly visible in those affected by it, but its often life-long effects on health, productivity and mental illness can be devastating. Prof Brown is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis, in the United States, and is a Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
He has been a keynote speaker at the Otago Global Health Institute’s 11th annual international health conference in Dunedin, and yesterday gave the annual McKinlay Oration, sponsored by the Otago Centre for International Health. The free public lecture focused on the "assessment and control of vitamin and mineral deficiencies globally" and the need for "generating better data for more coherent public health programmes".
Prof Brown said that undertaking health research in low-income countries was costly, and there was often a "huge lack of data" to clarify the extent and nature of "hidden hunger" problems and also to determine the most effective ways of countering them.
He had recently "had the luxury" of being involved with a large study — which had cost more than $800,000 — on vitamin A status in Cameroon, and the potential to counter this through vitamin supplementation or food fortification.
The study had helped to significantly clarify the issues.
And some research funding, while apparently costly, could also lead to multimillion-dollar long-term savings by better targeting the people who needed more vitamins or minerals, so the micronutrients could be provided effectively, rather than making costly provision for people who did not need them, he said.
Prof Brown is a leading specialist in the epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of childhood malnutrition in lower-income countries.
The two-day conference ended yesterday.
