Many countries have been fortified the food with iron to control of anemia. This is a long-time sustainable and cost effective strategy. With the development of science and technology, many technical methods have been applied for food processing to produce appropriate, safe and feasible fortified products.
In Vietnam, Prime Minister had ratified the National Nutrition Strategy 2001 - 2010, in which eliminatation of micro-nutrients deficiencies is one of the objectives and fortification of food is an important strategy.
With the support of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), The National Insitute of Nutrition has been implementing the iron fortified fish sauce (IFFS) project in Vietnam. This is an advantaged solution and suitable for all people especially the poor who can buy iron fortified fish sauce at an affordable price. Poor people are high risk of iron deficiency anemia.
General objective:
To make iron-fortified fish sauce with level of 0.4 mg NaFeEDTA per 1 ml fish sauce available at an affordable cost to all Vietnamese people, to reduce the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency anemia among population
Specific objectives:
- After 3 years of implementation, fish sauce companies will produce and distribute about 20 million litters of iron fortified fish sauce, account for 15% market share of total fish sauce production.
- To establish and maintain the iron fortified fish sauce quality assurance and quality control system according to standards stipulated by provincial and regional Laboratory to quality control of IFFS and monitoring the distribution of IFFS on the market.
- To improve awareness, knowledge of people through social marketing and education activities. After 3 years, about 30% of reproductive women, retailers, health workers, policy makers recognize IFFS logo and will understand the dietary intake of iron and benefit of using iron fortified fish sauce to control of iron deficiency anemia.
- To establish and maintain the monitoring and evaluation system. After 18 months of implementation, about 5% of reproductive women have elevated hemoglobin level.
After 3 years, 10% of reproductive women usually use the iron fortified fish sauce, 8% of them will have elevated hemoglobin level and iron status.