Combating micronutrient deficiencies--an important component of poverty reduction.

In the late 1990s, the international development banks and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) convened to outline seven International Development Goals (IDGs) to reduce poverty by 2015. These goals incorporated both the economic and social dimensions of poverty. A two-thirds reduction of child mortality and a three-fourths reduction of maternal mortality from rates in 1990 by 2015 are two of these seven IDGs. There is a need for better combinations of cost-effective strategies to reach these challenging goals by the year 2015. This paper discusses the potential usefulness of micronutrient deficiency control programs for this purpose.