Zinc Alliance for Child Health
Launched in 2011, The Zinc Alliance for Child Health (ZACH) is a $25 million commitment to scale up zinc and oral rehydration salts (ORS) as a diarrhea treatment in countries with high under-five death rates. ZACH partners include the Government of Canada (CAD$15 million), Teck (CAD$10 million), the Micronutrient Initiative. In 2015, ZACH will be extended until 2020 through an additional CAD$5 million commitment (CAD$1 million from Teck and CAD$4 million from the Government of Canada).
Crop Nutrition Project
Zinc deficiency affects more than half of the world’s agricultural soils and has a significant impact on crop productivity. The link between zinc-deficient soils and zinc deficiency in humans is especially prevalent in developing countries that rely on cereal grains as the main source of dietary intake. Adding zinc to fertilizer has been demonstrated to increase crop output, food security and the nutritional quality of the crops. Since 2011, Teck has supported China’s Ministry of Agriculture and the International Zinc Association to carry out more than 120 field trials in China to demonstrate the benefits of adding zinc to fertilizer, as well as national workshops and training courses for farmers. Our crop trial research has found that zinc fertilizer increases crop yield by 8-20 percent and increases the nutritional content of the grains by 20-40 percent. In 2015, Teck committed USD$150,000 to continue the project until 2017.
25th Team
UNICEF Canada, Teck and the Government of Canada have partnered to recruit and mobilize The 25th Team, a network of 60 Canadian women who will each contribute $100,000 to scale up health care interventions for mothers and children in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Namibia and Peru.
This $6+ million initiative will support UNICEF programming with a focus on improving nutrition and birth registration in these countries, which have been specifically chosen due to existing government support and the opportunity to leverage this funding over time to reach even more people. Due to UNICEF’s ability to leverage funding and multiply impact, the 25th Team funding will improve the lives of 3.8 million women and children
