Community Level Fortification: Lessons from Projects in Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania.
Loading...
Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Objectives: Rural smallholder farming communities are inadequately reached by national food
fortification initiatives. World Vision projects in Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania explored the
implementation and sustainability potential for community level fortification to increase households'
access to micronutrients.
Methods: Fortification projects were initiated within an integrated nutrition and health program.
Micronutrient premix was added to staple grains during milling at medium scale mills (Malawi),
village hammermills (Malawi, Tanzania) or at home after milling (Senegal, Tanzania). In Senegal
two community bakeries for fortified bread were established. Partial cost-recovery systems were
implemented in all projects but sustainability plans in Malawi and Senegal relied on a transition to
independent business models to fund ongoing premix and quality control costs, with community
oversight.
Results: The projects introduced a novel method of increasing micronutrient intake which was
widely accepted by local communities. More than 20,000 households accessed fortified grains.
Common challenges included accessibility of premix supply and quality control services, and costrecovery.
Operating in rural areas increased premix supply costs and limited quality control
monitoring by national standards agencies. Sustainability of activities without external funding was
limited. Transition to cost-recovery was overcome in Malawi through extensive community
sensitization but resulted in a shift to food-to-food fortification in Tanzania. In Senegal, community
committees sustained premix procurement through fortified bread sales. Conclusions: Community level fortification was well accepted and has potential to improve
micronutrient intake of rural households unreached by commercially fortified products. Further
formative work is needed to identify contextually feasible systems for premix supply, quality control
and cost recovery.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Mildon Alison, O'Leary Melani, Yiannakis Miriam, Klaas Naomi. Community Level Fortification: Lessons from Projects in Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania. European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety. 2015 Special issue; 5(5): 786-787.