UN-backed food fortification programme to benefit millions of Egyptians

Millions of Egyptians are expected to benefit from a new United Nations-backed nutrition programme to cut widespread anaemia, estimated to afflict 60 per cent of the population in the most impoverished parts of the country, damaging maternal and infant health.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), created at a special UN session for children in 2002, has committed $3 million to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to work with the Egyptian Government on the fortification of wheat flour with folic acid and iron, two essential nutrients for reducing anaemia.

The wheat flour is widely used in Egypt to make the very popular baladi bread.

The Government has allocated $20 million to the five-year project. The GAIN contribution will enable WFP to purchase fortification equipment and nutrients for the first phase of the programme, and to help raise public awareness about proper nutrition and the health benefits of consuming fortified bread.

“WFP has a long history of providing food assistance to food-insecure communities in Egypt and improving their nutritional status continues to be one of our key objectives,” WFP Country Director Bishow Parajuli said.