MALNUTRITION is a
major public health problem in developing countries including Tanzania,
contributing up to 50 per cent of
under-five mortality.
Good health lays
the foundation for vibrant and productive communities, stronger
economies, safer nations and a better world. Concerted efforts were
needed to ensure that unnecessary deaths resulting from undernutrition
are stopped.
Every year, that is
around 3.1 million deaths of children under the age of five are due to
under nutrition while globally, 161 million chronically undernourished
children are not getting the right nutrients and care at the right time.
Kagera Regional
Nutrition Officer, Mr Paul Makari revealed that prevalence of stunting
in Kagera Region was 39 per cent above the national average which stood
at 34 per cent.
Other regions with
high rate of stunting include Iringa (41.6 per cent), Geita (40.5 per
cent), Rukwa (56.3 per cent ) while Njombe had 49.4 per cent. Causes of
malnutrition include inadequate or excess dietary intake, infectious
diseases, inadequate maternal and child care and poor access to health
services, unhealthy environment and poverty.
Individuals who are
vulnerable to malnutrition are children under five years of age, women
of reproductive age especially pregnant and lactating women and
adolescent girls due to their physiological needs for growth and
reproduction.
Malnutrition can
manifest itself in the forms of overweight and obesity which is an
indication of excessive intake of nutrients or under nutrition which
denotes inadequate intake of such ingredients. Investing in children's
nutrition has the power to trigger big social and economic changes
Children with well-developed brains and bodies have better life chances.
They live longer
and healthier lives, they do better in school and they grow into healthy
and productive adults. Improving children's well-being at the earliest
age must be an integral and systematic component of education and
poverty reduction.
East Africa region
was among the three United Nations sub regions with the highest
prevalence of stunting in 2011. During the period 1992- 2015, there was a
tangible reduction in the number of underweight children and those
suffering from chronic malnourishment.
However, despite
these gains, concerns persist regarding the high rates of stunting among
children and the stark disparities in nutritional status. The number of
undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa rose from 181 million in
2010 to almost 222 million in 2016.
Although the
prevalence of stunting decreased from 38.3 per cent in 2000 to 30.2 per
cent in 2017 while the number affected increased from 50.6 million to
58.7 million due to population growth. The rate of wasting in 2017 was
7.1 per cent or 13.8 million children, of whom 4 million were severely
wasted.
Overweight rates
are also increasing. The number of children younger than 5 years who are
overweight increased from 6.6 million in 2000 to 9.7 million in 2017.
For children aged 5-19 years, obesity rates doubled between 2006 and
2016, while for adults, overweight and obesity increased from 28.4 in
2000 to 41.7 in 2016.
Progress on various
indicators has been either stagnant or has slipped. In 2015, more than
2.7 million children under 5 years of age were estimated to be stunted
and more than 600,000 were suffering from acute malnutrition, of which
100,000 were severe cases.
There are huge
variations in the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age.
Ten regions account for 58 per cent of all stunted children and five
regions account for half of the children suffering from severe acute
malnutrition in Tanzania.
All three forms of
undernutrition are higher among children from the poorest quintile than
the richest quintile and higher among boys than girls. Given the
importance of nutrition in the overall physical and cognitive
development of children, there is a need to focus on the first 1,000
days of a child's life to prevent the negative effects of malnutrition
from becoming irreversible.
This requires a
multipronged approach to address risk factors ranging from inadequate
food and illness to poor access to safe drinking water, sanitation and
hygiene. High rates of anaemia and low body mass index among adolescent
girls and pregnant women are also causes of concern.
Investing in
nutrition is essential for Tanzania to progress. It is estimated that
the country will lose US$20 billion by 2025 if the nutrition situation
does not improve. In contrast, by investing in nutrition and improving
the population's nutritional status, the country could gain up to US$4.7
billion by 2025.
A strategic plan to
reduce the double burden of malnutrition in the African Region was
adopted at the 69th Regional Committee meeting of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) for the African Region in Brazzaville on 21 August,
2019.
The plan outlines
the urgent and accelerated action that we must take if we are to meet
our goal of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030, said
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
The WHO Secretariat
will be developing and implementing a resource mobilization plan,
supporting research collaborations and mounting high-level advocacy for
increased investment to reach 90 per cent coverage of the 10
highest-impact nutrition interventions that must be taken to meet the
malnutrition challenges in our region.
The double burden
of malnutrition is particularly prevalent in countries undergoing
nutrition transformation in which undernutrition and overweight or
obesity coexist, often because of the increasing consumption of cheap,
processed foods that are high in energy, fat and salt content but low in
nutrient quality.
This diet, which is
common in Africa, fails to address chronic undernutrition and
micronutrient deficiencies and contributes to increased obesity and
diet-related noncommunicable diseases. The strategic plan aims to
strengthen evidence-based policies and national capacity and contains
clear targets to be achieved by 2025.
Priority
interventions include reinforcing legislation and food safety standards,
using fiscal measures to incentivize healthy food choices and
integrating essential nutrition actions in health service delivery
platforms.
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