GAIN and the Kenya Ministry of Health, represented by the Director of Nutrition Rosemary Ngaruro, organized a quality assurance and quality control training on food fortification for millers, traders, consumers and regulators.
GAIN introduced the BioAnalyt iCheck portable test kits, which will be used to test the amount of micronutrients in fortified wheat flour. Technicians from the Kenya Bureau of Standards, national labs, and Kenya Medical Research Institute were present, some of whom were seeing the iChecks for the first time. These kits will help regulators monitor millers on the quality of fortification.
Attendees also had the pleasure of meeting five people personally affected by spina bifida, a condition resulting from an expectant mother not consuming enough folic acid. Juliana Wanjiku and her daughter Caroline, who has spina bifida, advocated for folic acid fortification.
"Let me be the last Kenyan to go through this because if you added iron folate to what you produce, I would not have suffered this much."
Caroline's story resonated with participants and gained attention from Kenya news station K24TV.