Micro-nutrients deficiecy cost nation billions

ON average, the country loses 43,000 children and 700bn/- in lost revenue annually due to vitamin A deficiency, a recent report by Twaweza activist group said.

'Micronutrient deficiencies alone cost Tanzania 700bn/- per year. People need micronutrients to stay healthy. Out of every 1,000 births, 3.1 children are born with Neural Tube Defects because of a lack of folic acid.

And 4.2 million children and 4.3 of women are iron deficient,' said a Twaweza report quoting National Food Fortification Alliance (NFFA) report of 2009.

In Africa, the country ranks number three worst affected in Africa with only Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo as worst off.

'With respect to malnutrition Tanzania belongs to the 10 worst affected countries across the globe and ranks 10th place in its contribution to all chronically undernourished children in the world.'

With such a decimal record, health scientists are arguing that food fortification should be given priority.

'We cannot allow this continue hence as a government and our partners we have decided to take action,' said President Jakaya Kikwete while launching a countrywide food fortification with Vitamin A addition in May, 2013.

Mr Kikwete pointed out that the economic impact and loss of lives which the country is facing because of poor nutrition should now come to an end. 'My government is determined to do everything to stop this nutritional deficiency haunting our children and women,' he underlined.

Much progress has since been made and nutrition experts argued that the 43,000 deaths and 700bn/- is slowly being reversed.

Others are calling for much more progressive ideas for the government to allow consumption and cultivation of golden rice, a genetically engineered rice variety with high nutritional content.

With an estimated two million deaths of infants globally each year, government leaders and nutritional experts are arguing that golden rice is one of the most effective solutions to address deaths relating to malnutrition.

'We can save these children globally with use of golden rice which is rich in vitamin A,' argued British State Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson.

Mr Paterson accused anti-GMO activists as killers saying in Philippines, which is one of the world's most affected countries by vitamin A deficiency, activists paid youth to uproot a golden rice farm.

Paterson told a group of African journalists on a visit to London under Bioscience for Farming in Africa fellowship, that genetically engineered food is slowly becoming acceptable in Britain.

'Last time, I told people clearly in Britain that I cannot guarantee that meat that they eat is free from GM and there was no public uproar,' he argued.

Britain imports the bulk of animal feeds from the US and Brazil annually where GM soybean and corn are widely used as raw materials.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is responsible for 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness and up to 2 million deaths each year, according to World Health Organization.

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

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