Large-Scale Food Fortification Partner Convening
When
16-18 April 2024
Where
Cape Town, South Africa
Summary
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a convening of large-scale food fortification (LSFF) partners with both technical and strategy insights. The meeting aimed to (1) strengthen the LSFF ecosystem by generating awareness among partners and their scopes of work, results, challenges, and upcoming trends as well as to enhance the coordination of LSFF program delivery, and (2) have partners collaborate towards common goals. The convening produced multiple outputs, including a technical summary document of the proceedings and main findings and strengthened coordination among partners.
FFI staff co-led the working session, “What is the LSFF evidence base?” with Ruchika Chugh Sachdeva, Nutrition Lead for the India Country Office at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The session’s goals were threefold.
Articulate nutrition and health improvements documented in countries with large-scale food fortification.
Devise strategies to overcome the challenges of using evidence to inform policy making vis-à-vis fortification in their own settings.
How can nutrition evidence be integrated into the public sector environments? What are the specific needs of public sector actors for what kind of evidence? At what stage of the process is evidence needed (generally, for dedicated policy or regulatory processes)?
During the session, Dr. Helena Pachón, FFI Research Director, provided an overview of the global evidence base for LSFF. Dr. Prashanth T, Associate Professor at St. John's Research Institute, Bangalore, presented a case study of evidence used to build a rice fortification program in India. Scott Montgomery, FFI Director, presented a case study of wheat flour fortification efforts in Haryana, India, and how FFI and its partners have used evidence of the fortification program’s health impact to advocate that India’s 2018 standards be revised in alignment with World Health Organization guidelines.
Resources
Global evidence base for LSFF
Health impact brief