This study responds to earlier findings of suboptimal compliance with mandatory fortification of edible oil in Bangladesh. We aim to explain the root causes of poor compliance and to provide recommendations to strengthen the national fortification programme in Bangladesh and other similar contexts.
Biofortification of staple crops has the potential to increase nutrient intakes and improve health outcomes. Despite program data on the number of farming households reached with and growing biofortified crops, information on the coverage of biofortified foods in the general population is often lacking. Such information is needed to ascertain potential for impact and identify bottlenecks to parts of the impact pathway.
Dietary intake data are required to design, monitor, and evaluate nutrition programmes and policies; however, current dietary assessment methods are complex, time consuming, and costly. Recently, GAIN developed a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQ-FFQ) that can be used in coverage surveys to estimate the amount of fortified and biofortified foods consumed and their contributions to nutrient intakes.
Food fortification is implemented to increase intakes of specific nutrients in the diet, but contributions of fortified foods to nutrient intakes are rarely quantified.
Through funding from BESTSELLER, GAIN worked in the states of Karnataka and Bihar in India, to improve the nutrition and lives of groups of semi-literate women and children. GAIN equipped women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to produce nutritious food rations.
Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) is a cost-effective intervention that is widely implemented, but there is scope to further increase its potential. To identify gaps and opportunities, we first accessed the Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx) to identify countries that could benefit from new fortification programs.
In 2017, a cross-sectional survey, comprised of a household and market in two states (Ebonyi and Sokoto) was conducted using the Fortification Assessment Coverage Toolkit (FACT). The aim of the survey was to provide information on household coverage and consumption of fortifiable and fortified foods among children and women of reproductive age, and availability and quality of fortified foods from markets.
The FACT provides details on how to plan, design, implement, analyse, and report a FACT survey. It was designed to help stakeholders collect, analyse, and synthesise standardised data on quality, coverage, and consumption of fortified foods, and fills a gap in the availability of standardised tools to generate information to understand how well programmes are working and how to improve them.
Food systems are essential to delivering healthy, affordable and sustainable diets, but the nutritional needs of children and adolescents are often not prioritised. UNICEF and GAIN co-hosted a global consultation on children, adolescents and food systems in November 2018.
The FACT consists of a manual and 10 practical tools and templates that provides standardised methods for the collection, analysis, and synthesis of data on quality, coverage, and consumption of fortified foods across countries while allowing for adaptations to meet specific country needs and contexts.
