Tanzania: Fortification Will Increase Food Safety

THE Micronutrient Initiative (MI) which has been funding some programmes at Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre and some programmes with East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA) in Arusha, just released its report, 'Fortifying Africa's future,' which casts a grim picture of how much of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost annually due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
For Tanzania, which has not yet started fortifying flour, wheat, oil or sugar, the estimated prevalence of iron deficiency of percentage in children under five years is 65.
It notes, for example, that 75 grams of a maize meal (ugali or uji), an adult portion, fortified to the levels recommended for East, Central and Southern Africa, would contribute between 15 and 46 per cent of the daily requirement for a range of vitamins and minerals.

Kenya Country Director for MI, Chris Wanyoike, told this reporter that they look forward to offering consultant services to Tanzania organisations when fast tracking fortification starts.
Some programmes MI has been involved include when ECSA was helping in formulating Standards for Kenya and Uganda. ECSA also boasts of an initiative, the Regional Food Fortification Network whose Secretariat is based in Arusha. ECSA member states participating in this initiative are; Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Other countries in the region that are also participating include Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Madagascar and Rwanda. The collaborating partners in this initiative are UNICEF, A2Z Project, MI and with financial and technical support from USAID/EAST AFRICA and UNICEF-ESARO.
They now all agree that working with small millers where a big part of the population get their flour for meals should be approached differently because it would have costs involved in providing them with equipment like Micro feeds and other premix forticants.
"We can not use the same concept, it is a social investment, not commercial and a programme that could take six years, " said Mr Wanyoike. Currently, Kenya, for example, supplies salt to 8 countries. "So, if you fortify salt in Kenya, you will have influenced the health of all these countries," he said.