Kenya’s government says it’s working with industry and academia to develop a strong food fortification infrastructure in order to fight malnutrition.
Reports reveal that the program is aimed at reducing the burden of micro nutrients deficiency affecting children and pregnant women.
Veronica Kirogo, head of the Division of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Ministry of Health, said that fortification of key staples like maize, wheat flour and edible oils had been prioritised to address Kenya’s malnutrition crisis.
“The country is facing a growing burden of malnutrition and childhood stunting whose solution lies in fortifying staple food with vitamins and minerals,’’ Kirogo said at the second National Food Fortification Summit held in Nairobi.
The two-day summit, she added, will give a forum for policymakers, industry executives, and researchers to share best practices for promoting fortification of critical staples in the country.
Kenya has implemented legislation and regulations to make it easier to fortify maize and wheat flour, as well as fats and oils, with certain minerals and vitamins in order to improve the nutritional status of pregnant women and children.
According to Kirogo, the establishment of Kenya National Food Fortification Alliance combined with advocacy targeting millers and consumers had ensured that micronutrients were added to main staples.
Kirogo said that the government has spent so much in research, surveillance, and consumer education to improve the safety of fortified foods, claiming that their availability reduced child stunting prevalence from 35 to 26% between 2008 and 2014.
Kenya has prioritized food fortification, according to Bashir Issak, head of the Ministry of Health’s Division of Family Health, in order to address five significant public health concerns: iron, folic acid, vitamin A, zinc, and iodine.
He said that fortification of key staples has proved to be a cheaper and highly effective intervention to reduce micronutrients deficiency among children and pregnant women that has escalated amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Issak said that investments in food fortification could bring about multiple benefits, including boosting cognitive ability of children and reduced incidents of anemia among pregnant women.