Large-scale food fortification is one of the most effective methods to improve public health nutrition. GAIN supported KFI (Yayasan Kegizian Pengembangan Fortifikasi Pangan Indonesia) to undertake a pilot project of cooking oil with vitamin A in an effort to contribute to a decrease in the prevalence of sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency. This project included an impact evaluation study and scale up to national mandatory regulations for the fortification of unbranded – and ultimately all – cooking oil with vitamin A. This will ultimately lead to an estimated 4 million metric tons of vitamin A-fortified unbranded vegetable oil consumed by more than 200 million Indonesian poor, including about 125 million women of reproductive age and children under the age of 12 years. The objective of the study in two districts in West Java was to measure the impact of fortification of unbranded cooking oil with vitamin A on vitamin A status of pre-school and school-age children, non-lactating women of (early) reproductive age, and lactating mothers.
Savica provided technical assistance to KFI during the design, implementation, data validation and analysis and reporting on an impact study of vitamin A fortification of cooking oil. This study has led to a number of peer-reviewed publications.
