The World Bank and GAIN awarded the Government of Vietnam’s National Institute of Nutrition, in partnership with UNICEF and the National Fortification Alliance, US$ 3.00 million to fortify fish sauce with iron. Fish sauce is consumed by more than 80 percent of the total population. Funding supports activities including the purchase of fortification equipment for fish sauce factories, development of regulatory monitoring activities, and implementation of a social marketing and consumer education campaign. After the conclusion of the project, GAIN provided US$197,000 in bridge funding to support the completion of key project activities.
The project aimed to reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia by making iron-fortified fish sauce available to the population. At the full scale, it hoped to provide approximately 25 percent of the population with fortified fish sauce.