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Economic `muscle` emphasised afresh
2007-05-13 09:32:24
By Correspondent Nasser Kigwangallah
Participants in the 3rd National Nutrition Conference which ended in Dar es Salaam this week have requested the government to empower economically people at the grassroots and national levels so that they may contribute significantly to the reduction of malnutrition in their respective families.
This was one of the resolutions, read before closure of the Conference.
It was pointed out that although income does not explain all the variations in malnutrition, it is possible to have higher income without corresponding to the reduction in malnutrition.
``Given the enormity of evidence on the health and economic benefits of investing in nutrition, we resolve to use this evidence to advocate allocation of more resources for nutrition,`` one of the resolutions read in part.
It was pointed out, too, that considering the importance of the Nutrition Conference as a forum for sharing experiences, auditing performance and charting out strategies for improving the nutrition of Tanzanians, the national nutrition conference should be convened regularly.
Earlier, presenting his paper on ``Combined Effects of Income Growth and Programme Interventions`` , Harold Hoogeveen, from the World Bank, indicated that availability of higher household resources and better quality of infrastructure could have a positive impact on children’s health status.
He said both income growth and the presence of nutrition programmes in the community contribute positively and significantly to the reduction of malnutrition.
``The combination of nutrition interventions and income growth can lead to halving malnutrition rates and achieving the hunger MDG,” he observed.
In his paper ``Nutrition for Human and Economic Development in Tanzania: Invest Now for the Year 2025`` Godwin Ndossi, the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre Managing Director, said there was a very strong case for investing in nutrition.
He warned that failure to address malnutrition in the country would lead to a cumulative loss of 2,469bn/- between the year 2006 and 2015.
On the other hand, he said adequate investment in nutrition in Tanzania would improve infant and young child health, children`s school performance, maternal nutrition and economic productivity.
He urged Members of Parliament to lobby for more investment in nutrition, attributing the reduction in infant and under-five mortality rates in the country between 1999 and 2004, to investment in child health and scaling of effective interventions.
Closing the Conference, Deo Mutasiwa, the Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, appealed to people to take the issue of nutrition seriously to avoid loss of life among infants.
He said even if nutrition was not considered to be of importance in its own right, there was a case for improving nutrition as a way of reducing income poverty and increasing macro-economic growth.
``Nutrition was linked to several other welfare outcomes such as reduced morbidity and mortality, and increasing education attainment,`` he said.
Mutasiwa said it was the duty of all government departments, institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations to work together so that malnutrition could be curbed in our society.
He urged participants to go to the people and inform them about the importance of nutrition for their daily lives, by identifying different categories of foods available in the respective areas.
Mutasiwa assured participants that the government would recruit Nutrition Officers in all Health Centres, Maternal and Child Health Clinics and villages.
Other nutrition experts observed that reducing malnutrition contributes to economic growth and that such contribution could be substantial.
Malnutrition is the under-lying cause of child morbidity and mortality.
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