The Global Health Technologies Coalition is pleased to announce that HarvestPlus has joined the coalition as a member. HarvestPlus is an international program that seeks to improve nutrition and public health by developing and promoting biofortified, staple food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals, and providing global leadership on biofortification evidence and technology.
Breast milk is the perfect first food for newborns; it provides nutrients and energy that infants need and contains substances that strengthen their immune systems. Ideally, newborns are breastfed within their first hour of life with breastfeeding continuing for their first several months of life. However, some babies are not able to breastfeed—preterm babies often do not have the fine motor skills and babies born with facial anomalies like cleft palates cannot breastfeed.
Since its discovery in 2012, cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)—a disease World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan called “a threat to the entire world”— have been reported in 27 countries across four continents. MERS is a type of coronavirus—a common virus that infects the nose, sinuses, and throat—and a close cousin to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, infamous for infecting more than 8,000 in the early 2000s.
