June 14, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 13: The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed an agreement on a $2 million grant for a pilot project to fortify flour and reduce anaemia and folic acid deficiency. The grant, for the iron and folic acid fortification in small scale flour milling, will add dietary iron and folic acid to small Chakkis (bullock driven mills), targeting 175,000 people in two low-income high-risk districts over two years.

The grant will come from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), financed by the Japanese government. Chakki millers will be taught to fortify flour and the project will help district and provincial governments to regulate, monitor and support the fortification process.

Those who signed the agreement in Islamabad were ADB’s Pakistan Resident Mission Country Director Peter Fedon, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Secretary M. Ismail Qureshi and Economic Affairs Division Secretary Khalid Saeed.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Fedon said the project would help define realistic objectives and strategies for the sustainable expansion of flour fortification at small-scale Chakkis. This will protect up to 50-60 per cent of the population, mainly the rural poor, who are served only by Chakkis, he added.

The ADB country director said it would also assist the local government, child and/or women welfare groups, and NGOs to create community support and consumer demand for fortified flour.

The project will upgrade up to 100 Chakkis in two districts. Collaborative government/NGO support systems will be established for flour inspection and testing, social marketing, public education and nutrition monitoring. Fortified flour consumption will reduce deficiencies by at least 20 per cent among the target population.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that deficiencies in iron and folic acid have devastating impacts on health and survival in Pakistan. About 40 per cent of women, 65 per cent of children, and a substantial number of men suffer from anaemia.

An ADB country study conducted in conjunction with the Ministry of Health estimates that in over 10 years more than 22,000 maternal deaths and $4.6 billion in lost productivity were caused by iron deficiency and an estimated 40,000 deaths from heart disease and birth defects were caused by folic acid deficiency.

Chakki flour fortification remains the best hope for relief from iron and folic acid deficiency for more than half the population. Flour fortified with folic acid is expected to bring down the number of children born with birth defects by one third, and rates of coronary heart disease by up to nine per cent.