Fortification of Vegetable oil and Sugar with Vitamin A in Uganda

CHAPTER THREE
III. The Public Sector Role in Fortification
A. Introduction and Overview
This chapter discusses the public sector agencies involved in the food fortification
program and the food regulatory system structure. It then considers how each different
public entity is involved in the fortification program, and discusses activity costs.
Three observations—
(1) Some key public regulatory agencies’ fortification-related activities are still
inadequately defined;
(2) All agencies are performing multiple tasks, of which their “new” fortificationrelated
activities are but one; and
(3) The intensity of fortification-related activities (i.e., the frequency with which
many of the public agencies’ fortification-related activities will be carried out)
will be largely determined by budget availability.
—together, render the public sector’s costs a subjective and somewhat artificial
undertaking. This is not the case for all public agency activities involved in regulating
the fortification program. In instances where the type, content, and frequency of
activities are clearly defined and universally accepted as established—costs were
estimated. This chapter describes the fortification regulatory system’s development,
general activities remaining key policy issues that need to be addressed. This chapter also
discusses each agency’s role and objectives.
B. The Public Regulatory System
The Ministry of Health (MOH) enforces food safety standards set forth in the Food and
Drug Act. Fortification-related activities are but one part of the Ministry’s
responsibilities related to the Food and Drug Act. The MOH staff assigned to the
micronutrient (fortification) program and more generally to nutrition is thin. The
micronutrient section under the MOH Nutrition Department has two staff-persons. The
Commissioner of Child Health coordinates NWGFF and heads an internal MOH working
group composed of a secretariat and staff to lead the fortification program:
• a senior environmental health inspector, who oversees the Ministry’s front-line
district-level food inspector and environmental health inspectors of the
Department of Inspection and Certification,
• the Ministry’s Senior Health Educator, who works on the social communicationrelated
fortification activities, and
• the MOH contact person for the NWGFF on safety, quality control and standards.
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