Its partnership with the GOB began in 1982. The Bangladesh Nutritional Blindness Study was conducted, and it indicated that there was a high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency. By 2005, vitamin A deficiency among children 12 to 59 months, as measured by prevalence of night blindness, has decreased to 0.04% from 3.76% in 1982. Leadership Kathy Spahn is President and Chief Executive Officer, joining in March 2005. Prior to Helen Keller International, Spahn was President and Executive Director of Orbis, a global non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of blindness in the developing world. Partnerships Helen Keller International is a partner in Compact2025, a partnership that develops and disseminates evidence-based advice to politicians and other decision-makers aimed at ending hunger and undernutrition in the coming 10 years, by 2025. HKI is represented on the Leadership Council of Compact2025 by its president Kathy Spahn. Recognition Helen Keller International has received the 2014 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Development Cooperation category for agricultural programs that help families and villages to raise their own nutritious foods. "Hunger and low dietary diversity reduce cognitive function, physical capacity, resistance to disease and quality of life and lifetime earnings. Heller Keller International champions Homestead Food Production, an innovative, interdisciplinary program that promotes improved agricultural and nutritional practices in a synergistic fashion. This approach is mostly applied to communities that have difficult access to labor and food markets," in the words of the jury's citation. In 2014, they also won the Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership. References External links International International charities Health charities in the United States Medical and health organizations based in New York City