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Checking a child鈥檚 weight: Adding vitamins and other nutrients to basic foods can bolster overall health and nutritional standards.

Photograph: Reuters / Jacky Naegelen

The majority of children in Zambia eat a meal at least once or twice daily. But despite a full stomach, many lack nutrients essential for their physical and mental development. The Zambian government is fighting this 鈥渉idden hunger鈥� by fortifying maize meal, the staple food, with life-saving vitamins and minerals.

鈥淎 child can eat three meals per day, but still have problems,鈥� says Mr. Ward Siamusantu, who manages the country鈥檚 Maize Meal Fortification Programme. 鈥淎 few doses short of vitamin A or iron, and you throw away a child鈥檚 ability to do their best in life. Impaired children will grow up to be impaired adults, costing Africa billions of dollars in lost productivity.鈥�

African leaders, through the New Partnership for Africa鈥檚 Development (NEPAD), are at the forefront of continent-wide efforts to infuse micronutrients 鈥� vitamins and minerals 鈥� into maize meal, salt, flour, oil, sugar, soy and other foods. One of the goals of NEPAD, the framework guiding Africa鈥檚 efforts to accelerate development, is to ensure that all citizens are healthy enough to contribute their full physical and mental potential.

Micronutrient deficiencies debilitate minds and bodies, says a report by the UN Children鈥檚 Fund (UNICEF), Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency. The lack of iron alone, the report says, is so widespread in adults that it is lowering overall labour productivity, resulting in estimated losses of up to 2 per cent of GDP in the countries most affected.

鈥淲e became concerned when the latest government research revealed that 66 per cent of all Zambian children under five years of age suffer from vitamin A deficiency and 63 per cent lack enough iron,鈥� Mr. Siamusantu told Africa Renewal.

Maize fortification

In response, the government launched a programme in 2006 to fortify all commercially milled maize with iron, vitamin A, folic acid and zinc. Legislation, Mr. Siamusantu says, is also expected by February 2007 to mandate that all maize meal sold in stores contain these essential vitamins and nutrients.

Fortifying food improves children鈥檚 health and their ability to learn.

Photograph: Peter Arnold Inc. / Jorgen Schytte

By controlling deficiencies in children, says Amanda Marlin, the communication manager for the foundation Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), African nations can jump-start development in a short period. Set up to foster efforts to fill the micronutrients gap, GAIN is helping fund the project in Zambia.

鈥淎nytime you talk about development, you are talking years of work. But with food fortification, you see results in a short period,鈥� Ms. Marlin says. 鈥淣EPAD leaders are supportive of these efforts, because they鈥檝e seen it work in Europe and America and they said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 make this happen in Africa鈥�.鈥�

Several countries in Africa, she says, already have fortification programmes, but GAIN, NEPAD and other partners aim to expand them to 47 countries over three years. It makes sense to tackle the problem on a regional scale, Ms. Marlin continues. Because food is traded between countries, it is important to ensure that food from across the border is all fortified.

鈥淭he beauty of this project is that we don鈥檛 ask people to change their habits,鈥� she says. 鈥淧eople resist big diet changes. We enhance whatever is already an important part of their diet.鈥�

This was a lesson Zambia had to learn, confirms Mr. Siamusantu, who said the country at first fortified sugar with vitamin A, but found that sugar 鈥渨as not commonly consumed and we realized it was better to go for the staple food, maize meal.鈥�

The Millers Association of Zambia, which is made up of 33 of the country鈥檚 top producers of maize meal, has agreed to add vitamins and minerals to its products. The executive officer of the association, Mr. Harrison Banda, says that at first the manufacturers worried that the additives might affect the quality of the maize meal and therefore hurt business. 鈥淲e were concerned how the vitamins and minerals would affect the taste, smell and quality of our product. But we have been assured it won鈥檛 be a problem.鈥�

Consumers, Mr. Banda adds, had concerns of their own. 鈥淪ome people worried that this was a ploy by Western governments to experiment on them. They said, 鈥榃hy is this not given to their own people?鈥� There were rumours that this would cause infertility. Through education campaigns, people now know that even in America and Europe, they eat fortified food. They know it鈥檚 good for them and their children.鈥�

鈥楢 noble project鈥�

Millers received machinery from GAIN, but need to purchase the vitamins and minerals out of pocket, raising another public concern that they would pass the costs on to consumers. But that is not the case, Mr. Banda says. 鈥淥ur production costs will go up by only 3 per cent and this is a small sacrifice given what is at stake. Once our fears concerning quality were allayed, we wanted to be a part of this. We support the reasons behind this project and feel it鈥檚 a noble project that should be supported by the private sector.鈥� The association, he says, reaches about 60鈥�70 per cent of the country. The remaining, more remote parts of the country are serviced by small-scale millers.

But across Africa, notes Mr. Steven Lauwerier, a UNICEF programme officer in C么te d鈥橧voire, it is in remote rural areas that people are most in need of nutrient boosting. 鈥淚n towns you have a direct impact, because people rely on commercial food,鈥� he points out. 鈥淏ut these products do not penetrate poor rural areas. There, fortification cannot be used alone. You have to complement it with more community-based nutritional programmes.鈥�

The Zambian millers鈥� association, Mr. Banda says, is working to bring rural millers on board, if additional funding can be secured. 鈥淭he vitamin doses needed per tonne of maize meal are very, very small. We cannot allow [the lack of] a few grams of vitamins to set Africa back.鈥�