BUDAPEST, HUNGARY; OCTOBER 22 – 24, 2019
Participant List – Meeting Agenda
From October 22-24, 2019, GAVA, with support from CDC and GAVA’s core partner agencies (Nutrition International, UNICEF and Helen Keller Intl), convened a three-day workshop in Budapest, Hungary. The purpose of the workshop was to support participating countries in assessing the sufficiency of their data on vitamin A intake and vitamin A status when used for guiding evidence-based decisions on scaling back vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs where vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a mild public health problem. The meeting was attended by country delegations from Nepal, Malawi, Uganda, and Ghana, and brought together global and regional representation of GAVA development partners (NI, UNICEF, CDC, WHO, HKI) as well as select experts with relevant subject-matter expertise.
GAVA’s 2019 policy brief, “Conditions for scaling back universal preschool vitamin A supplementation,” presents a 4-phase decision-making pathway to help countries assess progress made towards sustained elimination of VAS in preschool-aged children. It offers guidance for assessing available data related to vitamin A nutrition and includes a decision-making framework to provide a structured approach in determining when to scale back preschool VAS programs.
This workshop aimed to provide technical assistance to countries working through the framework, and to apply any learnings to the development of operational guidance to accompany the GAVA policy brief. Specifically, the objectives of the workshop were:
The workshop provided an interactive forum for sharing technical knowledge and country-specific experience, fostering a better understanding of how data can inform VAS program decisions. Discussions during the workshop led to the development of country-specific next steps and priority actions to better understand the dietary patterns within the population and the aetiology of vitamin A deficiency within their country. Insights from the workshop will shape further guidance to accompany the GAVA policy brief to support countries to use evidence for decision making on universal preschool VAS.
