“Although money set aside for this area
has been small, various efforts and strategies employed have resulted to
reduction, albeit small, in stunting in the country to 34 per cent. But
after the country joined the scaling up nutrition movement, more money
has been set aside to support these efforts,” she explained.
Stunting in Tanzania has decreased from
42 per cent in 2010 to 34 per cent in 2015, meaning that in the last 20
years the country has managed to reduce it from 58 per cent to 48 per
cent, the vicepresident said.
“We have started slowly but we promise
to increase the money in future national budgets. I call upon the
Ministry of Local Government and Regional Administration to ensure that
the money set aside for the anti-malunutrition campaign is spent for the
intended purpose,” she stressed.
Malnutrition is defined as a state of
poor nutritional status which is the result of inadequate or excess
intake of nutrients by the body. In Tanzania, major nutrition problems
relate mainly to undernourishment.
Citing the successful school desks
campaign, Ms Hassan acknowledged that commitment and political will at
the highest level of leadership will result in improved nutrition status
in the country.
She revealed that the new Food and
Nutrition National Policy had already been reviewed and would be
presented to the cabinet for endorsement, adding “I have also been
informed that the national nutrition strategy is in the final stages of
preparation.”
“These strategies will enable Tanzania
attain its set goals on curbing malnutrition. If we all play our part in
this, we will indeed eradicate malnutrition in accordance to Malabo
Declaration, Global Health Council and the Sustainable Development
Goals,” she stressed.
The Vice-President was saddened by the
fact that the leading regions in malnutrition are the ones leading in
food production in the country, stressing on importance of public
education on nutrition. Minister for Health, Community Development,
Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, admitted that
malnutrition was a problem in the country despite progress in the health
sector.
The minister promised to increase
efforts in bringing malnutrition and its associated problems under
control. “We want to keep up with the Fifth Phase Government’s speed and
ensure this problem is addressed accordingly.
I believe we can do better to reduce
malnutrition at much higher speed,” she explained. In his welcoming
speech, the Executive Director of the Partnership for Nutrition in
Tanzania (PANITA), Tumaini Mikindo, said the report aims at making it
easier for governments and stakeholders to make high impact commitments
and to end malnutrition in all forms.
He stressed that in order to curb
malnutrition in all forms there is a need for ambitious smart targets
and commitment, coupled with political will to achieve nutrition
coverage in the country. “We will one day have zero stunting in the
country,” Mikindo noted. Malnutrition is one of the most serious health
problems affecting infants, children and women of reproductive age in
the country.
Despite progress made, millions of
children and women in Tanzania continue to suffer from one or more forms
of under-nutrition, including low birth weight, stunting, underweight,
wasting, vitamin A deficiency, iodine deficiency, disorders and anemia.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) regards stunting as ‘very high’ if it is greater than 40 per cent of a population.
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