USAID Anemia Food-Based Approach Brief 2022

The brief discusses the importance of addressing anemia, a multi-factorial condition that demands an ecological approach recognizing internal and external contributors. It highlights the need for a food-based approach, including improving dietary diversity, biofortification, adding animal-source foods, and food processing to improve iron bioavailability and food quality. The brief also discusses food fortification, including large-scale fortification and targeted fortification, and provides examples of lipid-based nutrient supplements, ready-to-use supplementary foods, and ready-to-use therapeutic foods. Additionally, it touches on biofortification, which involves improving the nutritional quality of food crops through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. The document concludes with a list of references cited in the brief.