The Nutrient Gap Initiative
Guided by our mission of “Health for all, Hunger for none,” Bayer's Nutrient Gap Initiative seeks to expand access to essential vitamins and minerals to 50 million people annually in underserved communities by 2030. This is a key step in combating malnutrition and nutrition insecurity.
Hidden Hunger
Simply put, humans need food to survive. But to be healthy, humans need more than just calories. They need critical nutrients, too. One in three people in our world are surviving on diets lacking the essential vitamins and minerals needed to grow properly, live healthy lives and raise a healthy family.
Often called “hidden hunger,” vitamin and mineral deficiencies are especially prevalent in underserved communities, with women and children being most vulnerable. This type of malnutrition develops gradually over time, the impact not seen until irreversible damage is done. Deprivation of essential vitamins and minerals may cause poor immunity, birth defects, reduced work capacity, learning disabilities, fragile health or failure to thrive - often exacerbating the cycle of poverty. This is why most micronutrients are part of the World Health Organization Essential Medicine List.
As a global leader in human health and sustainable agriculture, Bayer is uniquely positioned to help all people have access to proper nutrition, from food to safety net supplementation. Our goal is to impact 50 million people annually by 2030 by expanding access to diverse nutritious foods such as vegetables, fruits, grains and nutritional supplements.
Initiative Focus Areas
Through intervention, education and advocacy, Bayer is helping to close the nutrient gap in underserved areas around the world, creating healthier communities for generations.
Many underserved communities lack access to vitamins and minerals, either because they cannot afford nutrient-rich foods or supplements or can’t find them nearby. We are bringing nutritious foods and safety-net supplementation (i.e. essential vitamins and minerals from the World Health Organization essential medicines list) within physical and financial reach of those who need it most.
In 2024, we reached 26 million individuals directly, including more than 13 million smallholder farmers with seeds and crop protection solutions and 13 million more with affordable nutritional supplements. That includes providing 7 million pregnant women and their babies with multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) in partnership with Vitamin Angels.
Many vulnerable populations lack knowledge about proper nutrition, the importance of vitamins and minerals to their health, how to integrate nutritious foods into their diets and the value of supplementation when needed. Through both direct educational efforts and work with healthcare providers and farmers, we strive to empower people with the information they need to take their health into their own hands.
In 2024, through a long-standing collaboration with technology enterprise reach52, we trained 150,000 people in India, Indonesia and Kenya, providing critical nutrition and self-care information to support improved productivity and health outcomes.
Our Knowledge Transfer digital platform provides smallholder farmers easy-to-access agronomic information to help them grow nutritious fruits and vegetables for their families and communities. As of 2024, the reach of these tools has surpassed 11 million.
We also continued to support Vitamin Angels to launch a Continuing Medical Education curriculum in U.S., Mexico and Indonesia (2023). The accredited course trains healthcare providers on the importance of MMS; as of 2024, it has been completed by more than 300 professionals.
Governments and policy makers can have large-scale impact when they prioritize access to affordable and nutritious food, health literacy and make essential supplementation a standard of care. We actively engage with public, private and NGO partners to advance such policies, joining forces with partners across the spectrum to transform the ecosystem in keeping with our mission “Health for all, Hunger for none.”
Through our partnership, Vitamin Angels works with local governments to change national frameworks to make MMS the standard of care in public health policies, curricula and procurement, focusing on ~15 markets globally whose communities are most likely to benefit from policy change. Through these efforts, the Indonesian Ministry of Health committed to policy change, officially transitioning its maternal healthcare program to MMS in 2024. This will positively impact 10+ million women and their babies in Indonesia yearly.
How We’re Making a Difference
Accolades
