Program summary for Thrive to Five.

WHAT WE DO.  Thrive to Five is a major program of Vitamin Angels. Through Thrive to Five, we connect children and pregnant and lactating women in need with daily dosing of an essential micronutrient supplement. The objective of Thrive to Five is to help children under 5 thrive physically and cognitively, not just survive. We distribute essential micronutrients to children under 5 and pregnant and lactating women who live in settings where undernutrition and malnutrition are known to be prevalent, attempting to reach vulnerable children before their nutritional status has a chance to take its toll on their health and development. Well-nourished children take better advantage of available educational opportunities.

Vitamin Angels achieves results by working through partners with a local presence in countries with documented malnutrition and in areas with vulnerable populations. We engage with partners using a rigorous vetting process and by forging long-term relationships. Our partners employ a variety of proven methods for distributing essential micronutrients at the community level. Project approaches are individualized and apply solutions localized to the communities being served; we work in partnership with groups that have an intimate understanding of the community being served. All projects operate consistent with accepted best practices.

WHERE WE WORK.  Thrive to Five currently operates in 28 countries, including the United States, and on four continents. Thrive to Five currently distributes about 100 million doses of essential micronutrients annually.

WHY MICRONUTRIENTS.  Essential micronutrient supplements (or “multivitamins”) containing selected vitamins and nutrients (particularly vitamin A, iron, iodine, folate and zinc) as formulated and recommended by the WHO and UNICEF, are believed to mitigate against the effects of undernutrition and malnutrition among children under 5. Individually and combined, essential micronutrients are important for proper immune function, structural integrity of cells, and cognitive development of infants and children.

Therefore, essential micronutrient supplements can not only reduce deaths and sickness among children but also promote educational development which is recognized to be positively linked to economic development. Each year about 10,000,000 children under 5 die and about a third of these deaths are due to malnutrition. With approximately 54,000,000 new children afflicted each year by malnutrition and given the immediate and long-term consequences, all avenues for reducing malnutrition are urgently needed. Undernutrition and malnutrition are global problems, including in the United States.