Background

Micronutrient deficiencies can be addressed via a broad range of different intervention strategies, including intermittent or continuous preventive or therapeutic micronutrient supplementation, large-scale or targeted food fortification, social and behavior change communication to encourage greater consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and to promote optimal breast-feeding practices, agricultural interventions (including biofortification) to increase the year-round availability of and access to micronutrient-rich foods, food processing to enhance micronutrient uptake, and health interventions such as deworming and diarrhea control to improve micronutrient absorption and utilization.

Micronutrient Intervention Programs - Existing and Experimental

The MINIMOD team has modeled the following existing and experimental micronutrient intervention programs for Cameroon (with links to more information from the World Health Organization).

• Periodic high-dose supplementation (vitamin A)
• Deworming tablets
• Dietary supplementation (zinc)
• Large-scale food fortification (vitamin A, zinc, folate, iron, vitamin B12): wheat flour, oil, buillon cubes
• Biofortification (vitamin A, zinc, iron)
• Micronutrient powder (vitamin A, zinc, folate, iron, vitamin B12): children 6-23 mo; children 2-12 yrs; pregnant women
• Social and behavior change communication for promotion of increased production and/or consumption of nutrient-rich foods and encouragement of breast-feeding practices that are consistent with World Health Organization guidelines

Micronutrient Delivery Platforms

The MINIMOD team has modeled the distribution of selected micronutrient intervention programs via the following delivey platforms:

• Child health days
• Clinic-based distribution
• Community-based distribution

More infomration on these delivery platforms can be found here.