Partnership to Fortify South Africa’s Future Generations

Interview with Stefan Engels, GAIN’s Regional Manager for Southern Africa

Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN): What does the GAIN-supported home fortification program in South Africa look like?
Stefan Engels (SE): Home fortification, where you make foods prepared in the home more nutritious for specific groups like infants, is a new and exciting arena for GAIN in South Africa. We are happy to have supported the introduction of a multinutrient powder that will provide a better future for 1.8 million infants aged six to 24 months. The product is about the same size as a sugar or salt packet you get in restaurants and the mother can simply pour the vitamins and minerals on the foods she prepares at home. Eventually we want to establish a range of home fortification products that fall under a nutritious mark and seal of quality so consumers can easily identify the good quality products that will benefit their families.

GAIN: Talk about the business model behind the multinutrient powder project
SE: The business model is rooted in public and private partnerships. We are working closely with Nycomed, the South African company manufacturing these multinutrient powders, to get the price of the packets as low as possible and to sell them through their established pharmacy network. We will also create demand in the public sector for the multinutrient powders by providing them at first for free in provincial health clinics and programs.  The hope is that eventually the mother will see noticeable differences in the behaviour and the health of her child and buy the home nutrition packets in the supermarket where she shops. It’s crucial that mothers understand the benefits of spending money on these solutions. This is why GAIN is supporting provincial health departments to educate people about their health benefits. We will focus our messages first on two provinces with the highest levels of malnutrition – KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

GAIN: What motivates you to work on this effort?
SE: Unfortunately a lot of mothers in South Africa who want the best for their children cannot meet these aspirations as a result of poverty. This particular project we are embarking on is a cost-effective way of helping less fortunate mothers ensure their children reach their physical and mental potential by just sprinkling some multinutrient powder onto a porridge they eat every day. There is lot of supporting work we can do to roll out this and other similar types of products so every mother and child can reap the benefits. There are also other simple ways to fight malnutrition like supporting the consumption of diverse foods and breastfeeding.

 Reporting by Karie Atkinson, GAIN