Objective Malnutrition, and especially deficiencies of micronutrients like iron, zinc and vitamin A, undermine the progress towards most of the Millennium Development Goals. In view of the serious coverage, compliance and safety concerns of supplementation, this project aims to identify novel staple food-based approaches to improve micronutrient malnutrition for better health and development of women and children in sub-Saharan Africa. It will focus on the improvement of millet-, sorghum-, maize-, and cassava based (complementary) foods. The genetic potential of staple foods for increasing the micronutrient and antinutrient content will be evaluated and the determinants of success and failure of introducing biofortified staple foods in local farming systems will be assessed. The efficacy of biofortified staple foods with adequate levels of provitamin A will be determined. Concerning fortification, the project will develop and test new approaches to optimise iron and zinc fortification of staple food-based foods. The project will develop improved (traditional) processing methods of the staple foods concerned to enhance micronutrient uptake and bioavailability. The developed approaches in the area of biofortification, fortification and processing will be compared on efficacy of improving iron and zinc intake and status. The safety of the improved staple foods on immunity and infections will be evaluated as well as the impact on cognitive development of young children. Through capacity building and strengthening the scientific and technological excellence in the field of staple food-based approaches in Africa and Europe, the project seeks to significantly contribute to the improvement of the dietary quality of young children and their mothers living in resource poor areas in sub-Saharan Africa. New scientific knowledge will be exploited to strengthen the competitiveness of local SMEs targeted at evidence-based production of healthier (complementary) foods for African children. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition Keywords (bio)fortification Africa Micronutrients cognitive development food processing safety staple food Programme(s) FP7-KBBE - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology Topic(s) KBBE-2007-2-2-04 - Optical technologies for monitoring the human nutrition status and the onset of nutrition-related health problems Call for proposal FP7-KBBE-2007-1 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP-SICA - Collaborative project for specific cooperation actions dedicated to international cooperation partner countries (SICA) Coordinator WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY EU contribution € 1 243 505,00 Address DROEVENDAALSESTEEG 4 6708 PB Wageningen Netherlands See on map Region Oost-Nederland Gelderland Veluwe Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Jos Teunissen (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (10) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH Switzerland EU contribution € 756 970,00 Address Raemistrasse 101 8092 Zuerich See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Richard Frederick Hurrell (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT France EU contribution € 600 039,00 Address BOULEVARD DE DUNKERQUE 44 CS 90009 13572 Marseille See on map Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bouches-du-Rhône Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Claire Mouquet-Rivier (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE ROYAL CHARTER United Kingdom EU contribution € 777 760,00 Address KEPPEL STREET WC1E 7HT London See on map Region London Inner London — West Camden and City of London Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Penny Ireland (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL South Africa EU contribution € 376 761,00 Address University Road, Chiltern Hills 3630 Westville See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Jane Dene Kvalsvig (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITE D'ABOMEY-CALAVI Benin EU contribution € 467 487,00 Address CAMPUS UNIVERSITAIRES D ABOMEY 01 Abomey Calavi See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Romain Anselme Marc Dossa (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data INTERNATIONAL CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE SEMI-ARID TROPICS India EU contribution € 475 615,00 Address N/A 502 324 Andhra Pradesh See on map Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Rajesh Agrawal (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI Kenya EU contribution € 695 889,00 Address University Way 00100 Nairobi See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact George A.O. Magoha (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data CENTRE NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE ET TECHNOLOGIQUE*INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE EN SCIENCES DE LA SANTE Burkina Faso EU contribution € 356 781,00 Address B P 7047 03 Ouagadougou See on map Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Alhadi Wereme (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE - IFPRI United States EU contribution No data Address 2033 K Street, NW 20006 Washington, Dc See on map Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Howarth Bouis (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE Nigeria EU contribution € 149 477,00 Address IDI-OSE OYO ROAD 200001 Ibadan See on map Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Shalewa Sholola (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data