South Africa was awarded a R19-million grant from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition which would be used in support of the country’s food fortification programme, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Along with China, Morocco and Vietnam, South Africa was one of the first countries to receive such a grant, the ministry said in a statement.
”The grant is a major boost to the programme launched by Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in April this year.”
The programme entailed adding vitamins and minerals to maize meal and wheat flour to reduce micro-nutrient deficiencies.
”A major factor in the programme is the desperate need of South African children, who will, through fortified foods, receive almost half of their Vitamin A requirement, in addition to other essential vitamins and minerals such as iron and zinc.”
Reducing micro-nutrient deficiencies could lead to a substantial decrease in maternal and childhood diseases and death, mental retardation, blindness and neural tube birth defects, the ministry said.
”The grant will be used to improve implementation of the programme, including providing support to small-scale millers to comply with fortification requirements and training of environmental officers to monitor effective implementation of the programme.” – Sapa