Goal

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.

FROM Commitment: Reduction of malnutrition prevalence

Government / Haiti

Ministry of Health and Population

Partner organisations:
Private sector non-food business: Fonkoze, partners in Health, Meds and Food for Kids
Private sector food business: Moulins d'Haiti, Les Cereales d'Haiti, Carribex, HUASA, Iodised Salt Factory, Carribean Millingry,
Country government at any administrative level: Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Social Affairs, Planning,
Civil society organisation (CSO) or non-governmental organisation (NGO): AAH, AVSI, MDM-C, MDM-S, CWW, Partners of the America, STC, MSF
Multilateral organisations, including United Nations (UN) agencies: UNICEF, WFP, WHO, FAO
Date made: 02 Dec 2021
Related event: 2021 Tokyo N4G Summit | 2021 UN Food Systems Summit
Verification status Find out more
NAF SMARTness index Low Find out more
Targeted location National - From 1978 to date, the situation has deteriorated from 4% to 10% in 1990 with 2 cases of cretinism in the Central Plateau to 17% in 2005. Among the nutrients essential for the proper functioning of the body, iodine is …
Targeted population Overall population (all ages, both sexes)
Population coverage 4,000,000.0
Primary indicator Establishment of a nutrition committee
Primary indicator baseline 25%
Primary indicator target 60%
Duration October, 2022 - September, 2030

Goal action plan

The deficiency in micronutrients: Iodine, Iron and Vitamin A, constitutes a public health problem in Haiti, So, although of all nutritional deficiencies, iodine deficiency is the easiest to prevent and eradicate in a very short period of time, around 5 years. The simple solution is to increase the consumption of iodized salt in 80% of the populationAlthough Haiti is a sea salt producer country, the iodine content in harvested salt remains below 15 ppm, while the WHO recommends an average concentration of 40 ppm ± 10 (i.e. between 30 and 50).Iron, like iodine, is a nutrient that goes into brain development from conception to 2 years of age. Iron deficiency anemia is the No. 1 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 all kinds of infectious diseases by reducing their production potential. The EMMUS IV and V surveys show a high prevalence even among men (25%, a culturally favored group compared to the intra-family distribution of meals.Vitamin A deficiency, despite all the strategies and initiatives adopted and implemented by the MSPP has not regressed. It is, even after 38 years, a problem of the same magnitude. The distribution of the capsules has never been able to reach the figure of 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.On the strength of the increase in the cost of living and the galloping unemployment rate limiting access to quality food that can make it possible to fill the deficits related to a suitable food on the one hand and the degradation of the environment which reduces the micronutrient content of foods and other products in the food chain, on the other hand, the MSPP has adopted fortification to reach the general population while maintaining the other strategies already in place.

Nutrition Action Classification

Enabling

  • Financial
  • Operational
  • Leadership and governance
  • Research monitoring and data

Policy

  • Food environment
  • Food supply chain
  • Consumer knowledge
  • Nutrition care services

Impact

  • Undernutrition
  • Diet
  • Obesity and diet-related NCDs
  • Food and nutrition security

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