A review of micronutrient deficiencies and analysis of maize contribution to nutrient requirements of women and children in Eastern and Southern Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. Per capita supply from maize worldwide and in countries of Eastern and Southern Africa from 4-year average (2010–2013) FAOSTAT data, for consumption (A), energy (B), protein (C) and fat (D).

Figure 2. Prevalence of wasting (A), stunting (B) and underweight (C) for children under 5 years in Eastern and Southern Africa. Data from (Akombi et al. 2017; FAO 2018).

Table 1. Summary of prevalence of children micronutrient deficiencies in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Country	Age	Micronutrient	Prevalence of deficiency (%)	Reference
Malawi	5–14 years	Iron	21	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	6–59 months	Iron	28	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	5–14 years	Vitamin A	0.9	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	6–59 months	Vitamin A	3.6	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	5–14 years	Zinc	60	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	6–59 months	Zinc	60	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
South Africa	12–18 months	Calcium	75	Swanepoel et al. (2019)
South Africa	7–15 years	Iron	3.9	Egal and Oldewage-Theron (2018)
South Africa	7–15 years	Vitamin A	1.4	Egal and Oldewage-Theron (2018)
South Africa	7–15 years	Zinc	25	Egal and Oldewage-Theron (2018)
Tanzania	6–59 months	Iron	24	Tanzania Bureau of Statistics and ICF Macro (2011)
Tanzania	< five years	Iron	84.6	Kejo et al. (2018)
Zambia	6–59 months	Vitamin A	53	MOST (2003)

Table 2. Summary of prevalence of Women micronutrient deficiencies in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Region/Country	Age	Micronutrient	Prevalence of deficiency (%)	Reference
Botswana	15–49 years	Iron	30.2	FAO (2018)
Burundi	15–49 years	Iron	26.7	FAO (2018)
Comoros	15–49 years	Iron	29.3	FAO (2018)
Djibouti	15–49 years	Iron	32.7	FAO (2018)
Eritrea	15–49 years	Iron	38.1	FAO (2018)
Eswatini	15–49 years	Iron	27.2	FAO (2018)
Ethiopia	15–49 years	Iron	23.4	FAO (2018)
Kenya	15–49 years	Iron	27.2	FAO (2018)
Lesotho	15–49 years	Iron	27.4	FAO (2018)
Madagascar	15–49 years	Iron	36.8	FAO (2018)
Malawi	15–49 years	Iron	34.4	FAO (2018)
Malawi	15–49 years	Iron	21	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	15–49 years	Vitamin A	0.3	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	15–49 years	Zinc	63	National Statistical Office et al. (2017)
Malawi	15–49 years	Selenium (Selenoproteins glutathione peroxidase 3)	62.5	Phiri et al. (2019)
Malawi	15–49 years	Selenium (Iodothyronine deiodinase)	29.6	Phiri et al. (2019)
Mauritius	15–49 years	Iron	25.1	FAO (2018)
Mozambique	15–49 years	Iron	51	FAO (2018)
Namibia	15–49 years	Iron	23.2	FAO (2018)
Rwanda	15–49 years	Iron	22.3	FAO (2018)
Seychelles	15–49 years	Iron	22.3	FAO (2018)
Somalia	15–49 years	Iron	44.4	FAO (2018)
South Africa	15–49 years	Iron	25.8	FAO (2018)
South Sudan	15–49 years	Iron	34	FAO (2018)
Tanzania	15–49 years	Iron	28.5	FAO (2018)
Tanzania	15–49 years	Iron	41	Tanzania Bureau of Statistics and ICF Macro (2011)
Tanzania	15–49 years	Iodine	36	Tanzania Bureau of Statistics and ICF Macro (2011)
Uganda	15–49 years	Iron	37.2	FAO (2018)
Zambia	15–49 years	Iron	33.7	FAO (2018)
Zambia	15–49 years	Vitamin A	13.4	MOST (2003)
Zimbabwe	15–49 years	Iron	28.8	FAO (2018)
Eastern Africa	15–49 years	Iron	31.2	FAO (2018)
Southern Africa	15–49 years	Iron	26	FAO (2018)

Figure 3. Comparison of nutrients per 100 g portion of maize with other major staple foods for energy and proximate (A), minerals (B), vitamins (C) and fats (D). For each nutrient, values from USDA database (USDA 2020) were normalized with maize value to obtain the relative proportion of nutrient in each staple as compared to maize. *: vitamin C values were divided by 10 for a better fit in the chart.

Table 3. Maize-based foods from food composition tables from Eastern and Southern Africa.

Sr.No.	Country	Title	Number of maize-based meals	Reference
1	Ethiopia	Food Composition Table for Use in Ethiopia Part IV	12	EHNRI (1998)
2	Kenya	Kenya Food Composition Tables	11	FAO & Government of Kenya (2018)
3	Lesotho	Lesotho Food Composition Table	05	Lephole, Khaketla, and Monoto (2006)
4	Mozambique	Food Composition Tables for Mozambique	01	Korkalo, Hauta-Alus, and Mutanen (2011)
5	South Africa	South Africa Food Composition Tables	07	SAFOODS (2017)
6	Tanzania	Tanzania Food Composition Tables	03	Lukmanji et al. (2008)
7	Uganda	A Food Composition Table for Central and Eastern Uganda	16	Hotz et al. (2012)
8	Zambia	Zambia Food Composition Tables	04	National Food and Nutrition Commission (2009)

Figure 4. Contribution of 100 g edible portion maize-based foods to dietary reference intakes of energy and nutrients for children (A) and women (B) in Eastern and Southern Africa. Nutritional composition data of 59 maize-based foods were obtained from food composition tables of 8 countries and Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for children (1–3 years) and women (19–50 years) from (Institute of Medicine 2006) were used to calculate their percentage of contribution to daily nutrient intake requirement.

Figure 5. Contribution of maize-based foods to dietary reference intakes of energy and nutrients for children (A) and women (B) in Zambia. Nutritional composition data of 4 maize-based foods were obtained from Zambia Food Composition Tables (National Food and Nutrition Commission 2009), then food consumption data from literature and Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for children (1–3 years) and women (19–50 years) from (Institute of Medicine 2006) were used to calculate their percentage of contribution to daily nutrient intake requirement.

Figure 6. Contribution of maize-based foods to dietary reference intakes of energy and nutrients for children (A) and women (B) in South Africa. Nutritional composition data of 7 maize-based foods were obtained from South Africa Food Composition Tables (SAFOODS 2017), then food consumption data from literature and Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for children (1–3 years) and women (19–50 years) from (Institute of Medicine 2006) were used to calculate their percentage of contribution to daily nutrient intake requirement.

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