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FFI and its partners, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are advancing large-scale food fortification by addressing data gaps and making critical information accessible to decision-makers worldwide through two new grants.

Since its inception in 2002, FFI has partnered in more than 30 countries across the globe to build cereal grain fortification programs.

The preliminary results of the Haryana Demonstration Project are in—and they are a clear indication that fortification can lead to a healthier future in India.

FFI and partners are supporting a proposed World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Assembly resolution introduced by the Government of Colombia that calls on all Member States to institute and strengthen large-scale food fortification (LSFF) programs.

After the success of FFI and partners’ April 2021 workshop for millers, FFI collaborated with MOSIT to host a follow-up workshop for millers on 27 February 2022.

The Malaysia Ministry of Health (MOH) demonstrated renewed dedication in 2022 to scale up and strengthen wheat flour fortification.

Mauritius first began planning its wheat flour fortification program in 2018 and has since made tremendous progress.

In 2022, FFI partnered with the Botswana Government, Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to facilitate Botswana’s development of a national food fortification strategy.

In 2022, FFI was one of four main partners invited to take part in a new USAID initiative: Advancing Food Fortification Opportunities to Reinforce Diets (AFFORD). Funded by USAID as part of Feed the Future, the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, USAID AFFORD represents a holistic approach to large-scale food fortification (LSFF) that puts businesses at the core of the solution while strategically engaging with public, private, and civil society sectors.

From 2007-2021, Smarter Futures, the program under which FFI carries out the majority of its work in Africa, helped make fortification of wheat flour, maize flour, and rice a reality in dozens of countries across the continent.

In 2021, FFI led efforts in India to engage multi-sector fortification partners to reconsider the country’s current cereal grain standards and fight misinformation.

On 1 April 2021, FFI and partners held a workshop to refresh millers on their important role in fortification and to connect millers from the private and public sectors with other fortification stakeholders.

FFI conducted a fortification assessment in Uganda in early 2021 to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic had—and continues to—affect food producers and country commitments to fortify.

in 2021, the UK updated legislation to include folic acid in its mandatory wheat flour fortification standards.

Thanks to advocacy efforts by FFI and in-country stakeholders, the Ukrainian Parliament drafted a law for wheat flour fortification in June 2021.

FFI technical experts have been key to building a robust wheat flour and rice fortification program for the Solomon Islands.

In July 2021, New Zealand mandated that all non-organic wheat flour be fortified with folic acid within the next two years.

In Haryana state, India, COVID-19 did not stop millers from fortifying.

When the pandemic made an in-person mill assessment in Tajikistan impossible, FFI took a virtual approach.

As COVID-19 pressed pause on fortification activities in the region, the Solomon Islands maintained implementation and monitoring of its new rice fortification standard.

Stalled advocacy efforts in the Philippines were reinvigorated with the help of a new partner—Effective Altruism (EA) Philippines.

Wheat flour fortification has been mandatory in Indonesia since 2001. However, due to reports of difficulties procuring fortification premix during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Indonesia suspended mandatory fortification in 2020.

From January to February 2020, FFI, in collaboration with Nutrition International (NI), undertook a scoping study to assess the opportunity for fortifying wheat flour in Bangladesh.

With FFI’s support, the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care and UNICEF-Zimbabwe moved forward with the revision of their fortification strategy.

How do you collect information on millers’ compliance to fortification standards and legislation without regulatory monitoring inspections?

In 2020, FFI and partners rolled out FortifyMIS, an online management information system with the power to improve fortification monitoring across seven provinces in Mozambique.

When the pandemic forced FFI to cancel the in-person Monitoring Challenge Workshop scheduled for May 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa, FFI was quick to think out of the box.

The past year challenged and changed our world—and our work. COVID-19 exacerbated an already pressing crisis of micronutrient deficiencies. But difficult times often inspire innovation and progress, and the past year was filled with FFI and partners’ creative solutions to serious challenges.

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, Egypt pushed ahead to restart the country’s wheat flour fortification program, on hold since 2014.

Europe is often viewed as a part of the world where vitamin and mineral deficiencies are not prevalent, yet certain countries in the region carry a burden at levels that deserve attention.