University of Guelph: Cambodian “iron fish” update

It was an incredibly simple and low-cost solution to a challenging health problem.  As a recent grad student a few years ago, Christopher Charles went to Cambodia to study the issue of anemia in villagers in rural Cambodia. Anemia can lead to a number of health problems including major issues for child-bearing women and their fetuses, higher child death rates, and slower learning in young children.

In his study, Charles found the anemia levels to be almost double what the government had though, with almost 90% of the rural population experiencing some degree of anemia. A simple solution is iron supplement pills, but these are too expensive for villagers, and also often simply not available.  Another known solution is iron cooking pots which release iron nutrients during cooking, but they are heavy, and also expensive.

Christopher Charles came up with a novel low-cost idea, which has worked very well, and now a couple of years later his research has shown that his solution has dramatically reduced anemia in the rural population.

When the theoretically simple solution of iron cooking pots proved to be unrealistic, Chris Charles thought a small chunk of iron placed in the pot during cooking would work. The problem was, the women were reluctant to use it.  He next tried a lotus design, and again with little success. Then he hit on the idea of something easily recognizable, something which is cooked regularly, and which also has a lucky connotation to the villagers.  The idea was to cast the iron in the shape of a small fish familiar to Cambodians, and put a smile on it too.  It was an instant success.

Village women were no longer reluctant to put it into their pots during cooking, and as he continued testing, Charles found anemia rates going down dramatically compared to a control group that was not using the “lucky iron fish”.  In fact the results were better than hoped, with iron levels back to “normal” and with some iron being stored in reserve.

Since the initial phase, he’s been working with NGO’s locally and with various other organizations to scale up the production and distribution. As anemia is  huge problem worldwide, not uncommon even here in Canada, he is looking towards an even wider availability and distribution for his simple low-cost solution to a serious health issue.

Lucky iron Fish is now a registered Canadian company operating in Cambodia with financing from private sources and support from the Univeristy of Guelph. Christopher Charles has been joined by a PhD student and local Cambodian staff helping with various aspects of the project. A cambodian social cause company has come on board, and a local consulting firm has been helping to negotiate the registration process to mass produce the fish.

Lucky Iron Fish website here

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