Distinguished participants, Dear colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure for me to open this meeting on the implementation in Asia of the new recommendations on wheat flour fortification.
Fortification of staple foods can be a very effective way of improving nutritional status and public health, as it does not require a change in eating habits. Salt iodization provides perhaps the best example of what we can achieve when the food industry works with governments to improve public health. With more than 400 million tons of wheat consumed globally each year, flour fortification presents another great opportunity to improve vitamin and mineral status, and to prevent many deadly diseases. I am therefore happy to welcome to Manila a variety of partners—from the public and private sectors, policy-makers, scientific institutions, national and international nongovernmental organizations, millers, the Flour Fortification Initiative and United Nations partners—willing to join hands to promote flour fortification in the Region.
Economists gathered at the Copenhagen Consensus meeting in 2008, rated food fortification with micronutrients among the most cost-effective interventions available to improve national health and productivity.
Two billion people globally are estimated to suffer from iron deficiency. More than half of them live in South Asia. Since wheat is a staple food in many countries, fortified flour has the potential to reduce substantially the burden of anaemia, at a very low cost. Anaemia and even mild to moderate iron deficiency can gravely affect the learning capacity and physical growth of children, immune status, susceptibility to infections and the work performance of people of all ages. Anaemia during pregnancy affects overall infant mortality and is responsible for 20% of maternal mortality. Fortification is a simple and cost-effective way of reducing this global burden of disease.
The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific began work on fortification in 2002, through a study on opportunities for micronutrient fortification in countries of the Western Pacific Region. A study on the micronutrient food fortification in Pacific island countries was conducted in 2006.
Following decisions made at the Meeting of Ministers of Health for the Pacific Island Countries in Vanuatu in 2007, WHO and partners launched the Food Secure Pacific Initiative, aiming to improve food security, quality and safety. A Pacific Food Summit is planned for next year. Food fortification is an important part of these efforts. The fortification programme should be viewed as a component of an integrated strategy to address micronutrient deficiencies, together with efforts to improve diets, to promote breastfeeding, to improve hygiene and sanitation, and to scale up deworming and supplementation for the groups at high risk, especially women and young children.
WHO has worked closely with UNICEF and the Flour Fortification Initiative to promote fortification in Asian countries as well, by taking part in the First Regional Flour Fortification Workshop for East and South-East Asia in 2007, and in the East Asia and Pacific Leaders’ Group Meeting in 2009.
While there has been major success with salt iodization in most Asian countries, there seems to be still a need for high-level advocacy of food fortification to address the other important deficiencies of iron, vitamin A, folate and zinc.
These are highly cost-effective interventions that will be important to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, especially MDGs 1, 4 and 5 that deal with poverty and hunger, child and maternal health. We also can learn from other WHO Regions, for example the Eastern Mediterranean Region, where 14 countries have flour fortification programmes.
I would like to acknowledge gratefully the support provided by the Australian Agency for International Development for fortification efforts in the Region.
I wish you success in your meeting and a pleasant stay in Manila, and I look forward to reviewing your conclusions and recommendations.
Thank you.