Fortification Monitoring as a Lynchpin to Success: An Innovative Excel-based Tool to Collate National Fortification Data in Malawi
Laura Rowe *
Project Healthy Children, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Martha Pigott
Project Healthy Children, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Flora Kamdonyo
Ministry of Health, Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi.
Nathaniel Brooks
Independent consultant, Marlboro, VT, USA.
Johannes Korp
Stanford University Business School, Stanford, CA, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objectives: The monitoring of fortified foods is a critical component to the success of any fortification program, yet it is often given little focused attention. The tool allows food quality data from inspectors at trade borders, markets, and domestic facilities to be entered by government staff into an excel tool allowing for fast and efficient tracking of compliance by collection point, brand, importer, and producer.
Methods: Following a request to address the country’s challenge of collecting, organizing, and acting upon fortification data, the tool was designed to house all monitoring information as a stand-alone platform. Malawi-specific data informed its creation; key individuals from Ministry of Health were trained on its use. The tool can be adapted to any country setting and learned in less than one month.
Results: Since adoption, the government has compiled more accurate, detailed, and timely data on fortified sugar and iodized salt compared to previous monitoring methods. Staff have reported the ability to rapidly and systematically identify missing or non-compliant data each quarter. The tool has been successful in motivating district officers to send expected samples on time due to its depiction of which district samples have or have not been received.
Conclusions: The tool has simplified the ability to obtain a comprehensive picture of sample collection and fortification compliance at key collection points and proven in Malawi to display results in a rapid, informative, and visually powerful format. It provides a means for managers to correct program shortcomings before impact studies are conducted saving time, resources, and lives.