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Improving Nutrition for Poor Mothers and Children in Central Asian Republics and Mongolia

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (8 October 2001) - The Asian Development Bank has approved a US$6 million special grant facility to reverse the alarming increase in physically and mentally retarded children in some Central Asian Republics and Mongolia.

The grant, financed by ADB's Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), will improve nutrition for poor mothers and children in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It will be used to promote the fortification of salt with iodine and flour with an iron-based premix. Iodine and iron are micronutrients essential for the normal development of the body and brain.

Yet millions of mothers and children in these Asian countries in transition (ACT) - and other parts of Asia - lack micronutrients and are unaware of their importance. In some regions, more than half the women of reproductive age and children suffer from iodine deficiency or anemia. Anemic women are more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth or give birth to infants with diminished cognitive skills.

The deteriorating nutrition situation is a result of the breakup of the former Soviet Union and the subsequent withdrawal of food subsidies and breakdown of distribution networks to rural areas. For example, Ukraine was the major supplier of iodized salt for the whole region but such exports have ceased. National salt producers still produce non-iodized salt, mainly difficulties in importing potassium iodate.

"But, in fact, putting iodine in salt adds only 1-2 percent to the cost of production while fortifying wheat with iron adds slightly more to the cost," says ADB senior health and nutrition economist Joseph Hunt. "This catastrophic loss of human potential can be averted with relatively small amounts of investment. Five cents worth of iodine and 10 cents of iron is all a person needs for sixteen months' supply of fortificants."

The ADB assistance will be used for a regional program to promote the fortification of salt with potassium iodate and flour with an iron-based premix. ADB's partners in the program include the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition. It is hoped to include other partners later. The program consists of the following activities:

• Organizing a conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 10 to 12 October, 2001, for representatives from ACT public health service agencies, private salt producers, flour millers and bakers, non-governmental organizations that focus on women and children, external assistance agencies and central and local governments. The conference will aim for legislation mandating fortified salt and flour and for revised trade policies removing tariffs on imported fortificants;
• Financing a year's supply of potassium iodate and iron-based premix and fortifying salt and flour in selected pilot sites in poor areas;
• Supporting regulatory authorities in developing food-testing instruments and in monitoring enriched food programs for mothers and children;
• Promoting awareness through NGOs among consumers, especially the poor, of the need for micronutrient-enriched salt and wheat flour.

"The project will support ADB's overarching goal of reducing poverty by raising intelligence, school achievement, adult productivity and wages, and the health of mothers who can care properly for their children," notes Mr. Hunt.

The project will also build public-private, government-NGO, and intraregional partnerships. Governments in the region already share a strong social, gender and child orientation.

Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are seeing a rise in the proportion of children stunted by malnutrition, compounded by the lowest coverage of iodized salt. It is estimated that the economic cost of micronutrient malnutrition in developing countries is at least 5 percent of gross domestic product.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $6.24 million. Most of the cost will be borne by the JFPR grant, with the balance met by participating governments, NGOs and the private sector. The JFPR is funded by the Government of Japan, which made an initial contribution of 10 billion yen (approximately $90 million) in 2000, followed by an additional commitment of 7.9 billion yen (approximately $65 million) in 2001. JFPR projects directly target poor people and prioritize innovative approaches that have a demonstration effect.

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