Newsletter No. 2

In this second Newsletter, we share a new case study, some exciting news, and progress on ongoing projects.

Resources

Cameroon Case Study

Hot off the press is the case study Addressing Zinc Deficiency Through Wheat Flour Fortification in Cameroon. This six page brief covers the importance of data, key program milestones, the rationale for wheat flour fortification, early program impact, a commentary on sustainability, and key lessons learned. You can also read a summary here.

Updated Country Level Data on Zinc Deficiency page

We welcome you to take a look at this revised page.

Collecting Blood in the Field for Assessment of Plasma or Serum Zinc Concentration (PZC)

This document with practical tips for the A to Z of Collecting Blood in the Field for Assessment of PZC is not new, but worth highlighting again.

IZiNCG is on Twitter and Linked-In!

Please follow our Twitter account @IZiNCG_ and our Linked-In page for weekly updates.

Zinc Fortification Task Force

Our Zinc Fortification Task Force was initiated in July. Its overall goal is to enhance the impact of zinc fortification interventions. A systematic review is already underway, and other activities are planned. Read more here.

Research projects

Current and upcoming research projects are summarised on our IZiNCG Research Projects page.

New grant: Efficacy of multiply-fortified salt

We are thrilled to announce that IZiNCG has been awarded a new grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to evaluate the nutritional impact of multiply-fortified salt among women of reproductive age in Haryana, India! Read more in our newly published blog about the project.

Enrolment complete in ZiPT!

As of 29 July, all 2,886 children are enrolled in the Zinc in Powders Trial (ZiPT) in Bangladesh. We are planning to share the preliminary findings at our symposium at the Micronutrient Forum conference in Bangkok in March 2020. Read more about the trial in our blog here, and in the protocol here.

Reference methods for analysis of PZC

Our laboratory project involving labs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Switzerland and the USA is nearing completion. Read more here.

Adjusting PZC for inflammation

Part of the Biomarkers Reflecting Inflammation and Nutritional Determinants of Anemia (BRINDA) project, the manuscript on adjusting PZC for inflammation is under review at AJCN.

Recent publications

We aim to update our page on recent zinc publications on a monthly basis. Please contact secretariat@izincg.org with news of upcoming publications!

Advocacy efforts

Plasma/serum zinc assessment in national surveys

At present, IZiNCG is undertaking a series of interviews focusing on barriers to and enablers of the inclusion of assessment of PZC and other micronutrient biomarkers in national surveys.

Co-packaged zinc-ORS

The WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines now includes a new listing for co-packaged oral rehydration salts (ORS) and zinc sulfate. Congratulations to the Diarrhoea Innovations Group!

Conferences

A list of upcoming conferences of relevance to the zinc community is available on IZiNCG’s Conference Page. The list is by no means exhaustive - please contact us on secretariat@izincg.org about other conferences of interest.

IZiNCG will be hosting a symposium at the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference in March 2020 in Bangkok.

Stay Tuned…

➡️ Two new Technical Briefs are due out soon:

• Adjusting plasma or serum zinc concentrations for inflammation.

• Reference methods and reference data for zinc analysis.