Peru
The Lancet's Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition was launched in Lima, Peru on Thursday, February 21. The launch event began with a press conference that included remarks by Arturo Martinez of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a presentation by Dr. Laura Caulfield of Johns Hopkins University who presented The Lancet findings, and anchored by remarks from Prime Minister Jorge Del Castillo who renewed the government’s commitment to reducing chronic malnutrition and stunting by nine percentage points by 2011. Milo Stanojevich, Coordinator of the Iniciativa contra la Desnutrición Infantil, served as host opening the session, welcoming guests and introducing the speakers. Special guests included the Minister of Health Hernan Garrido-Lecca, the Minister of Women and Social Development Susana Pinilla, the Minister of Justice Rosario Fernandez, and First Lady Pilar Nores.
Following the press conference, Prime Minister Del Castillo, Minister Pinilla, Dr. Caulfield and Mr. Martinez adjourned to a small room to take questions from the media. The program resumed with a panel discussion focusing on Peru’s response to The Lancet findings. The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Milagros Agurto, a well-known nutritionist who appears regularly on nutrition programs on the radio and who has a weekly column in the newspaper Peru 21. Ms. Agurto is also the Dean of Nutrition at the Universidad Científica del Sur. Leading off the panel discussion was a presentation of Crecer by Mr. Ivan Hidalgo, the director of the national nutrition strategy. Crecer was developed to better coordinate all nutrition programs and initiatives under one banner. Panelists included Dr. Manuel Peña, from PAHO representing the UN agencies, David Salazar, the president of Apurímac, and economist Javier Abugattás from the Mesa de Concertación para la Lucha contra la Pobreza. They each spoke for 10 minutes about the technical aspect, the relevancy the interventions could have in the regions and the economic impact. Minister of Health Hernan Garrido-Lecca closed the program with remarks about the government’s commitment to reducing chronic malnutrition.
The event was attended by more than 300 government representatives, NGO and UN agency representatives, nutritionists and academics. Preliminary media coverage was strong. Seven television stations were present as well as reporters from local, national and regional media outlets. On the day of the launch, Milagro Agurto’s column about The Lancet findings ran in Peru 21 and stories ran in El Peruano and La Republica. Stories also ran on Canal 7 and Radio Programas del Peru (RPP). News services EFE and Andina each ran stories which were picked up by different outlets on Thursday and Friday.
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