Senegal Wheat Flour and Oil Fortification Project

Project Overview

In Senegal more than 82 percent of children under five years of age and more than 70 percent of pregnant women are anemic. Thirty-seven percent of pre-school children are deficient in vitamin A. In November 2009, GAIN awarded US$ 1.9 million to the Commission for the Fight against Malnutrition (Cellule de Lutte contre la Malnutrition) housed within the Prime Minister’s Office to fortify wheat flour and vegetable oil with iron, folic acid and vitamin A. The project will be implemented by the National Food Fortification Alliance (Cosfam) involving representatives from government agencies, the private sector, civil society and international development partners (UN and NGOs), according to a five year national strategic plan endorsed by the Prime Minister’s Office in November 2006. The strategy supports the development of norms and procedures for the fortification of edible oils with vitamin A and wheat flour with iron and folic acid. It also promotes expansion of food fortification to local food industries.

Goal

The project aims to reduce the prevalence of iron and vitamin A deficiencies by reaching 9.3 million people with fortified wheat flour and 8.7 million people with fortified vegetable oil.

Impact

At full scale, the project will have reduced the prevalence of iron and vitamin A deficiencies by 30 percent. This will contribute to Cosfam’s 2006 strategic action plan which aims to reduce the prevalence of iron deficiencies by 30 percent and to eliminate vitamin A deficiencies among women of childbearing age and children under 5 years old by 2014.

Achievements

In process

Duration

The project is funded from March 2010 to February 2015.