Q & A with Project Healthy Children
learn more about the Altruist February nonprofit
When it comes improving the health of the poor in developing countries, many people think of basic food donations such as bags of rice and flour. But what if you could make that same food more nutritious? Our February nonprofit, Project Healthy Children focuses on increasing the micronutrient content of food to solve the problem of malnutrition with food fortification. They not only fortify foods, but a key component of their work is aiding governments and the industry in establishing programs that are self-sustaining — thus allowing them to celebrate the day they leave a country, not the day they arrive. Read on to learn more about how this team of dedicated individuals is helping to end malnutrition.
Q: Why did you choose to focus on food fortification as opposed to other forms of aid?
Food fortification programs have proven to be one of the most cost-effective and sustainable stand-alone interventions to impact global welfare. In 2008, a group of economic experts came together — five of whom were Nobel laureates — to identify priorities that would address the 10 greatest global challenges. The economists were asked what were the best ways to advance global welfare, particularly that of developing countries, assuming an additional $75 billion of resources were available over a four-year period. At the end of their deliberations, guided heavily by consideration of economic costs and benefits, food fortification (salt iodization and flour fortification, specifically) ranked in the top three.
Q: Tell us about the last results you received that took you by surprise.
In the face of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Liberia’s fortification program has made impressive strides in the past few months, thanks to our hard-working partners on the ground. Despite the burden to the health care system while the country battled the worst outbreak of Ebola in history, the dedicated staffs of Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the National Standards Laboratory, and the National Fortification Alliance have pushed forward. In July, Liberia’s first cadre of inspectors from the Ministries of Finance, Health and Social Welfare, and Commerce were trained on sampling and inspection procedures. As of October, the first domestically produced and imported samples of fortified foods were received and tested at the National Standards Laboratory. Although there is more work to be done to ensure the lab completes all required tests accurately, all domestically produced products and most imported samples were fortified and met the national standard, indicating an important first step for the Liberia program. These achievements would not have been possible without the support of our donors. Project Healthy Children is extremely proud of the progress that the team in Liberia has enabled over the past several months.
Q: What would PHC like to achieve in 2015?
PHC’s goals for 2015 include:
- Effective implementation of an exit strategy in Rwanda to ensure the program is owned and operated wholly by the government of Rwanda.
- Further the establishment of a national fortification monitoring position within the government of Malawi to build capacity around effective and long-term monitoring plans.
- Adopt a comprehensive, excel-based monitoring tool to the Burundi context to ensure timely and accurate collection of fortification monitoring data. Such a tool will allow for the identification of program gaps and challenges before long-term impact studies are conducted.
- In Liberia and Zimbabwe, ensure that at least 80 percent of imported and domestic products meet national standard by end of 2015.
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