Alma Ata University Held Stadium General and Symposium with Johns Hopkins University in the University attempts to increase the intake of vitamins for Indonesian pregnant women and children.

In collaboration with Johns Hopskins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Alma Ata University conducted a guest lecture and symposium in order to increase Vitamin A intake for pregnant women and toddlers. This activity is supported by Vitamin Angels, an NGO based in America which is also a non-profit organization affiliated with JHU.

The symposium event which was attended by Prof. Keith P. West jr., Director of the Human Nutrition Program, JHU and Prof. Cristen Hurley, director of the Vitamin Angels Program was opened by the Rector of the Alma Ata University, Prof. Dr. Hamam Hadi, MS., Sc.D., Sp.GK. In his remarks, Prof. Hamam gave a flashback on how Indonesia has supported the research on the Vitamin A vaccination conducted by Prof. Sommer (former JHU Professor) and young Keith P. West in the 1980s until the Vitamin was finally accepted by the world community as one type of Vitamin to the present.

“It was just like yesterday when I had my nasi bungkus for my breakfast in Aceh and sitting together waiting for the Indonesian Ministry of Health decision towards the usage of Vitamin A with Dr. Sukirman at Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung “, recalled Prof. Keith in his opening lecture. Indonesia is said to be the first benchmark used by Johns Hopkins University in conducting the first field study of the use of Vitamin A. Prof. Keith expressed his gratitude to this country and at the same time suggested how important it is to provide vitamin A continually to toddlers and pregnant women.

Meanwhile Prof. Kristen Hurley conveyed the MMS new innovation as the most recent supplement finding that can be used to perfect Vitamin intake to toddlers and pregnant women. The MMS that has been tested in JHU’s laboratories is claimed to have better nutritional content than the currently given supplements for pregnant women at the Puskesmas. One of the Vitamin Angels missions’ world-wide is to campaign for the use of MMS as a supplement and or substitute for supplements that are currently used.