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Affordable Investment in Stronger Economies & Increased Productivity

MMS helps families, communities, and countries not just survive, but thrive.

UNIMMAP MMS is one of the best investments that countries can make in their development – driving healthier communities and stronger economies.

The gender nutrition gap is significant and worsening.

Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by malnutrition, and their poor nutrition bears generational consequences for their families, communities, and their nation. MMS is a small but mighty intervention that can deliver gender-responsive transformational impact.

Access to MMS not only improves the health and lives of millions of women, but also boosts local and global economies.

Women lose years of their lives to poor health and malnutrition, which affect their ability to be present and productive at home, in the workforce, and in their communities.

MMS can set a child up for a lifetime of improved opportunity with the potential to break free from the intergenerational effects of poverty.

Poor nutrition in the early days of a child’s life can cause irreversible damage to their growing brain, affecting their ability to do well in school and earn a good living—and making it more difficult for a child and their family to rise out of poverty.

For every dollar invested in MMS, there is an economic return of US$37.

This makes MMS one of the most cost-effective nutrition interventions available to governments and partners. In 2023, MMS was named one of the 12 best investments in global development by the Copenhagen Consensus, a think tank composed of leading economists that specializes in identifying the most effective solutions for global development challenges.

MMS is an affordable and cost-effective product that can be delivered at scale.

UNIMMAP MMS can be produced at a little over $0.01 per dose, or $2-3 per woman per pregnancy, which means that it’s available at a similar price to iron-folic acid (IFA).

Resource List:

  • The Further with 15 One-pager explains the economic benefits of MMS on women, families, communities, and nations.

  • The Further with 15 Fact sheet provides relevant data points on the economic benefits of MMS.

  • The HMHB Advocacy Brief: MMS in Pregnancy – One of the Best Investments for Development explains reasons why MMS is such a strong investment.

  • HMHB’s Knowledge Byte Webinar: “MMS – Invest in the Best” reviews key reasons to invest in MMS.

  • MMS Cost-Benefit Tool + Cost of Inaction Tool were developed by Nutrition International to aid countries’ decision-making by calculating the incremental benefits and costs of transitioning from iron-folic acid supplementation (IFAS) to multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS).

  • MMS Introduction and Scale-up Roadmap Costing Tool supports the development of costed national and sub-national MMS introduction and scale-up roadmaps. The tool was developed by R4D and funded by the Gates Foundation

  • MMS Global Investment Roadmap and Overview Brief were developed by a collaborative of private philanthropies to catalyze and prioritize action and investment in multiple micronutrient supplements.

Coming soon: Presentation slides that can be tailored and used during meetings, conferences.