FAO and partners commit to harness the potentials of Sustainable Food Fortification to improve the nutritional status of The Gambian populace.
24th
April, 2017, Banjul - The Gambian Government has joined forces with the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a bid to
sustainably reduce the menace of malnutrition, and in particular micronutrient
deficiencies which remain both a major public health and development problem
for the country. Through funding from The European Union, FAO in close
partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DoA), the National Nutrition
Agency (NaNA), the Food Safety and Quality Authority of The Gambia (FSQA), the
National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Private Sector Food Industries
as well as Importers, the Consumer Protection Group and other stakeholders is
set to develop and implement the sustainable integrated food fortification
initiative. The initiative - ‘‘Improve Food Security and Nutrition in The
Gambia through Food Fortification’’ aims particularly to improve micronutrient
nutrition and health outcomes of vulnerable women and children in The Gambia.
This is a public private partnership
initiative that will work with food industries and farmers involved in the
production of staple foods to embark on industrial scale fortification, as well
as the cultivation of bio-fortified food crops to increase access to essential
micronutrients by the population in The Gambia, especially women and children.
. Vulnerable children 6-59 months and pregnant and lactating women in food
insecure households in the North Bank and Central River North Regions will have
increased access to and consume more micronutrient-rich foods through both
industrially fortified food staples and bio-fortified food commodities.
The
initiative has integrated nutrition education as a key strategy to strengthen
nutrition outcomes. It is also designed
to strengthen public and private sector capacities, build public private
partnership and advance the reinforcement of regulatory systems on food
fortification in The Gambia. The intervention will ensure at least 65% of the
Gambian population have increased awareness and access to fortified staple
foods high in essential micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, zinc, folic
acid and other Vitamin B nutrients.
Dr. Sablah Mawuli, FAO Lead Technical Officer
for the project from the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana
concluded a week-long Technical Assistance mission to Banjul on 22nd April 2017
focusing on capacity needs assessment.
He also engaged with the various stakeholders to clarify the technical
roles of different public and private sector stakeholders, and guide in the
development of the detailed project implementation plan.
The
FAO Country Representative to The Gambia, Dr. Perpetua Katepa-Kalala, has
praised the initiative noting that Food fortification presents an attractive
potential area of investment to address micronutrient deficiencies in
vulnerable girls, women and children, based on its potential to provide a
relatively low-cost, affordable, scalable and immediate tool in response to the
challenge of eliminating hidden hunger from The Gambia. She expressed gratitude to the EU and the
different stakeholders on their commitment to improving nutrition outcomes in
The Gambia. She is enthused about this initiative which will establish the
enabling environment through mandatory legislation with standards on food
fortification, production and distribution of fortified foods, social marketing
with nutrition education under effective public private partnership Gambia
Alliance on Food Fortification. Dr. Kalala explained that various capacity
building and awareness raising campaigns would be organized on fortification
and bio-fortification with mixed farming systems that promote dietary
diversification, nutrition education and sustainable strategies for ensuring
high coverage of fortified foods to address vitamin and mineral deficiencies in
populations in The Gambia.
Potentials for food fortification
Deficiencies
of essential vitamins and minerals are widespread in The Gambia with substantial
adverse effects on maternal and child health and development. The Gambia
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS 2013) reported that 24.5% of children under
five were stunted, 16% were underweight and 11.5% were wasted while 4.2% were
severely wasted. Similarly, micronutrient deficiencies continue to be a public
health challenge to The Gambia with Vitamin A deficiency in preschool children
estimated at 54%, iron deficiency related anemia hovering around 72% in this
age group and 60% in women of reproductive age.
Mr.
Modou Cheyassin Phall, Executive Director, National Nutrition Agency NaNA
explained that industrial scale food fortification and bio-fortification
including bio-fortified orange flesh sweet potato, cassava and beans will play a critical role in sustainably
combating micronutrient malnutrition in a manner easily accessible to food
insecure communities. He noted that The Gambia Milling Corporation covering
over 98% of the market with wheat flour has initiated voluntary fortification
using industry standards which would now be aligned with harmonized Gambian
standards to be developed on the broader ECOWAS Standard Harmonization Model
(ECOSHAM). Mr. Phall also explained that the rice would also be fortified with
essential micronutrient under the programme.
The
Director General of the Food Safety and Quality Authority of The Gambia Ms.
Zainab Jallow has also praised the intervention as timely noting that it will
strengthen efforts aimed at enforcing standards and quality requirements on
food fortification in The Gambia.
Source: FAO
