The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN) have created the GAIN-IPAN Certificate Course in Laboratory Analysis of Food Micronutrients (LAoFM) with the support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
The course is aimed at tackling malnutrition and the associated stunted growth.
GAIN is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition.
Working with governments, businesses, and civil society, it aims to transform food systems to deliver more nutritious food for all people, especially the most vulnerable.
The course will equip candidates with a comprehensive understanding of the theory, principles, and applications of physicochemical and instrumental techniques applicable to the analysis of micronutrients in food.
According to UNICEF: “Nigeria has the second-highest burden of stunted children in the world with a national prevalence rate of 32 per cent of children under five.
“An estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment. Seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition.”
This context shows a significant need for developing the critical infrastructure needed to improve the country’s nutrition profile.
The Country Director of GAIN in Nigeria, Dr. Michael Ojo, in highlighting the strategic context of the programme, noted: “The availability of analytical capacity development programmes is a required component for improving Nigeria’s nutrition profile.
Therefore, GAIN has partnered with IPAN, to ensure that Food Laboratory Analysts can improve their skills and competence to guarantee the quality of their food-testing and achieve better results.”
Ojo also noted that the programme provides opportunities for food manufacturers, laboratories, and laboratory analysts, in addition to the social benefit of improving Nigeria’s nutrition profile.
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“For food manufacturers and testing laboratories, this programme helps them fulfil legal and regulatory requirements to comply with mandated policies and avoid sanctions for policy default. This is important in making such organisations commercially competitive.
“For the individual analysts, the programme helps them to access better career opportunities and stand out as more competitive candidates with better career prospects,” he noted.
Scholarships are also available to candidates interested in participating in the programme, based on their professional and academic experiences.
Commenting on the structure of the Programme, the IPAN Registrar, Aliyu Angara noted: “The GAIN-IPAN LAoFM certification training course is structured into three progressive competencies levels (Foundational, Intermediate, and Advanced).
“Upon completion of the third level of training, candidates will take an internationally accredited certification examination according to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17024: 2012 (Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons) to be administered IPAN-SoTLAN Conformance Systems Ltd. (IPAN-SoTLAN
PCB). This examination would earn candidates the Certification (Certificate of Completion) as Certified Professionals in food micronutrient analyses.”
Candidates who go through the programme will learn about laboratory quality management systems, analytical methods, equipment for micronutrient testing, national standards for micronutrients and fortifiers, preparation of samples, to mention a few.
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