An ingenious cooking tool that combats anemia in Cambodia took the top prize in product design at the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity, one of the world’s largest advertising conferences, amid a minor controversy over the devices’ creative ownership.

The Lucky Iron Fish is a small piece of iron, which, when added into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, allows the metal to be absorbed into water or food and provides 75 per cent of the daily iron requirement – creating a 50 per cent drop in deficiency, according to a one-year clinical study.

“My challenge was to find a way to supplement the traditional Cambodian diet of fish and rice,” explained product developer Christopher Charles in a video for the product.

Anemia is the second greatest cause of disability in Cambodia, according to an unrelated study published earlier this month, and is linked to mental and physical disability in children, hemorrhaging during childbirth, crippling headaches and lethargy.

The application for the award was submitted by Geometry Global Dubai, the marketing firm representing Lucky Iron Fish, which led to the firm being credited with its design.

They have since clarified their role.