Improving nutrition
Dominican Republic - Fortification of sugar and wheat flour
This national goal will be achieved if 100% of the wheat flour and 80% of the sugar are fortified with iron, folic acid and other B complex vitamins (flour), and vitamin A (sugar) according to the regulatory standards by the year 2008. The achievement of this goal is expected to reduce anaemia from 27% to 20% and vitamin A deficiency from 22.7% (< serum retinol of 20mg/dl) to 10% in children under five, and result in a 20% reduction of NTD rates between Baseline and 2008.
Target group
Children less than five years of age and women of reproductive age, in both urban and rural areas.
Food vehicle
Sugar, wheat flour.
Outputs
Reinforce the production and distribution of fortified wheat flour, and implement the production and distribution of fortified sugar Develop and put into action the legal instruments needed for mandatory implementation of the national food fortification program Reinforce the food control and regulatory monitoring system and assure its operation at all levels of the food fortification process (i.e. production and retail) Implement a monitoring and surveillance system and conduct an evaluation of the program, in order to assess the nutritional and health impact of the program Raise the collective consciousness at the consumer level on the value of fortified foods, in order to maintain a continuous demand for quality fortified foods
Coverage
Project aims to reach: a) coverage of 6.8 million population overall with wheat flour, of whom 2 million are women of reproductive age and children under five; and b) coverage of 8.1 million population overall with fortified sugar, of whom 3.2 million are woman of reproductive age and children under five, by Year 3.
Date
12/11/2006
Description
The goal of the national fortification program is to improve the nutritional status of the Dominican population, particularly of children under five years and women of reproductive age, through the fortification of wheat flour and sugar, thus reducing the prevalence of iron and vitamin A deficiencies and the incidence of neural tube defects (NTD). Voluntary fortification of wheat flour began in the country in the early 1990s and four of the six national wheat flour millers have undertaken fortification since then. This level of commitment has established a strong base for moving ahead to mandatory wheat flour fortification. With regard to sugar, all the national producers are committed to taking part in the national food fortification programme. The GAIN funded project will support the manufacturing of quality assured fortified food through the procurement of necessary industrial and laboratory equipment and appropriate training, and will also support the task of implementing a fully operational food control system from production to retail. Communication and social marketing campaigns will be designed to reach a variety of target audiences to build public awareness, and targeted advocacy will be undertaken to motivate key decision makers. Civil society including housewives and consumer associations, will also play an active role by generating consumer awareness and demand for fortified products. A further project component will support the strengthening of the surveillance and monitoring and evaluation and analytical capacity of participating agencies.
Key achievements
Project appraisal was finalized in March 2005 Grant Agreements have been drafted and are under review the recipient agencies
