A paper-based, smartphone assisted assay for detection and quantification of iron in fortified foods

Globally, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is projected to affect 800 million children and women. Iron fortification of staple foods such as corn flour is a cost-effective strategy for combating IDA and is a mandatory government program in Mexico. Program success relies on monitoring (compliance) and evaluation (quality control) oversight, requiring expensive equipment and personnel. The World Health Organization has identified criteria for analytical tools to be used in low-income countries known as ASSURED. The overall objective is to design, develop, and validate an ASSURED-designed, paper-based assay which interfaces with a smartphone to quantify iron in fortified foods. The dissertation will accomplish the aforementioned objective using mixed-methods chapters. The first study will identify the gap in low-resource sensor research published within the last 20 years with a systematic review. The second study will understand the context, barriers, and limitations of the Mexican flour fortification program by qualitative analysis of exploratory interviews. The third study will develop and optimize an ASSURED paper-based assay to determine iron content in fortified foods that interfaces with a smartphone application. The fourth study will validate this application in Mexico to determine its applicability for detecting iron in corn flour as a means of monitoring and evaluating fortification programs. In collaboration with Mexican private and public partners and Illinois technical experts, this dissertation ultimately serves as a bottom-up solution to the monitoring and evaluation limitations of fortification programs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Food Science & Human Nutrition

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Waller, Anna West

Contributors dc:contributor

• Andrade, Juan E
• Stasiewiz, Matthew J
• Lee, Youngsoo
• Wang, Yi-Cheng
• Viswanathan, Madhubalan

• fortification
• iron
• ASSURED

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Anna Waller

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108228

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/108228