We Know Much about What to Do but Little about How to Do it: Experiences with a Weekly Multimicronutrient Supplementation Campaign

Background Global population growth is concentrated in urban areas, but there is little understanding of how to implement the necessary interventions to control food and nutrition insecurity. In the urban area of Peru, food insecurity is characterized mainly by micronutrient deficiencies and not by energy deficiency. Objective To increase the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of weekly multimicronutrient supplementation programs in poor urban communities. Methods A series of operational studies were conducted of preventive weekly multimicronutrient supplementation to reduce micronutrient-deficiency anemia in a population consisting of 8,081 children under 5 years of age and 20,082 women and adolescent girls of reproductive age (12 through 44 years). Results This is one of a series of papers that describe in as much detail as possible the experiences of a multimicronutrient intervention program for poor urban mothers and their young children and summarizes the lessons learned for consideration of future programming. Conclusions This paper shows that such programs can achieve a high compliance with good training of program staff, involvement of the community, education and motivation of beneficiaries, adequate supplies, and careful monitoring.