SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – On February 20, 2007, the Batey Relief Alliance, through its regional arm, BRA Dominicana, signed a three-year agreement with the Dominican Ministry of Health—SESPAS to distribute chewable multivitamins and antiparasitic medicines to 55,000 school-aged children (between 2-10 years of age) who are undernourished, malnourished or deprived of micronutrients. The signatories were Maria Virtudes Berroa, Executive Director of BRA Dominicana and Dr. Bautista Rojas Gomez, Secretary of the Ministry of Health. Click HERE to view DR coverage of the signing ceremony.

The project, funded by the Vitamin Angel Alliance, United Natural Foods and the Direct Relief International, represents one of the many efforts by the BRA to address the health needs of children and families severely affected by poverty, disease and hunger in the Dominican Republic.

Micronutrient malnutrition – insufficient dietary intake of nutrition such as iron, iodine and vitamin A – affects the health and survival of more than 2 billion people worldwide. Women and children are most at risk. Iron deficiency (IDA) causes growth stunting, and it has been a significant public health problem in Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting approximately 55% of children 6-8 months of age and 30 percent of preschool children. Deficiencies occur when people do not have access to micronutrient rich foods, because they are unavailable or too expensive. It is estimated that between 54 to 76 thousand Dominican children of less than five years—7.2-8.9% of the general population, suffer from chronic malnutrition – and 27% of the population (more than 2 million of the 8.9 million) is undernourished. “Inside the bateyes, of which the statistics did not mention, however, it is likely that the food insecurity or the level of malnutrition/undernourishment is way higher given the extreme poverty, vulnerability and marginalization of that population,” said Maria Virtudes Berroa.

The Ministry will work side by side with BRA and other local non-governmental organizations, public schools, community health promoters and parents to educate and train about health and wellness, and to distribute more than 25 million high-dosed multivitamin tablets (daily) and 120,000 worm medicines (twice-a-year) to children inside the bateyes and in provinces where the level of malnutrition is high, including La Vega, El Seybo, Puerto Plata, Santiago, La Romana, La Altagracia, Santo Domingo, Monte Plata, Hato Mayor, San Pedro de Macoris, Montecristi, Dajabon and Jimani, Elias Piña, San Juan, Barahona, etc. Gaillard added that this vital assistance to the Dominican Republic seeks to ensure that the generation of at-risk children obtains sufficient sources of micronutrients to assure their healthy development and survival.

For more information about the Batey Relief Alliance’s multivitamin program and its humanitarian efforts, please visit www.bateyrelief.org.