Technical personnel from various stakeholders in health are discussing whether food fortification can be implemented in Rwanda. Food fortification is the addition of one or more essential micronutrients to a food for the purpose of preventing or correcting a demonstrated deficiency of one or more nutrients in the population or specific population groups. This was disclosed Thursday by the Minister of Health Dr. Richard Sezibera in an interview with The New Times. “We are still discussing about it. We are looking at all possibilities whether it can work in Rwanda or not,” said Sezibera. According to International Association of Infant Food Manufacturers, thirty percent of the world’s population is affected by vitamin A, iron or iodine deficiency. 700 million persons also suffer from clinical forms of these deficiencies and another two billion from sub-clinical forms. Deficiencies of other micronutrients such as zinc, calcium, folic acid and other vitamins are widely prevalent in the developing world. In a recent workshop organised by Ministry of Health and Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) various health stakeholders gathered at Hill Top Hotel to introduce food fortification in Rwanda. In a separate interview with Carol Tom, Regional Food Fortification Advisor for East Central and Southern Africa Region Health Community, recommended food fortification as essential in Rwanda. After her presentation in the workshop, the expert from Academy for Educational Development noted that over 50% of women of reproductive age have Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) which is one of the causes of maternal mortality. Tom noted that micronutrient malnutrition poses a serious threat to quality and productivity of the population hence affecting national health and development and impairs learning ability and scholastic achievement in children. According to her, both iron and iodine deficiencies have a negative impact on psychomotor development of children, by a reduction of at least 1.35 units of IQ which may be permanent if not corrected early in life. She adds that in the long term, good nutritional status contributes to the intelligence and health of the population. Heads of the States at the 1990 World Summit for Children (WSC) and the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN) in 1992, made a commitment to eliminate vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and substantially reduce iron deficiency anemia (IDA) by the year 2000. Nutrient supplementation of foods was mentioned for the first time in the year 400 B.C. by the Persian physician Melanpus, who suggested adding iron filings to wine to increase soldiers’ potency. In 1831 the French physician Boussingault urged adding iodine to salt to prevent goitre. However, it was between the First and Second World Wars (1924-1944) that supplementation was established as a measure either to correct or prevent nutritional deficiencies in populations or to restore nutrients lost during food processing. During this period the adding of iodine to salt, vitamins A and D to margarine, vitamin D to milk, and vitamins B1, B2, niacin, and iron to flours and bread was established and today various foods have been added to list of potential foods for fortification. Ends
