Haiti undertakes to adopt a legislative text on the Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, and to publish the texts of application of the Food Fortification Law.

The deficiency in micronutrients – iodine, iron and vitamin A – constitutes a public health problem in Haiti. So, although iodine deficiency is the easiest of all nutritional deficiencies to prevent and eradicate, this can be achieved in a very short period of time, around five years. The simple solution is to increase the consumption of iodised salt in 80% of the population. Although Haiti is a sea salt producer country, the iodine content in harvested salt remains below 15 ppm, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an average concentration of 40 ppm ± 10 (ie, between 30 ppm and 50 ppm).

Iron, like iodine, is a nutrient that contributes to brain development from conception to two years of age. Iron deficiency anaemia is the number one contributing factor to maternal mortality in Haiti, which has the highest rate among countries in the Americas region. It is a debilitating condition that makes a person fragile and vulnerable to infectious diseases by reducing their productive potential.

The EMMUS-IV and EMMUS-V surveys show a high prevalence even among men (25%), a culturally favoured group compared to the intra-family distribution of meals. Vitamin A deficiency, despite all the strategies and initiatives adopted and implemented by the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population, has not regressed. It is, even after 38 years, a problem of the same magnitude.

The distribution of capsules has never reached 50% despite all the efforts made by the MSPP and its financial and technical partners. The EMMUS-V survey found that only 44% had access to vitamin A capsules. Given the increase in the cost of living and the high unemployment rate, which limit access to quality food and the ability to address nutrient deficiencies, and the degradation of the environment, which reduces the micronutrient content of foods and other products in the food chain, the MSPP has adopted fortification to reach the general population while maintaining the other strategies already in place.