Nutritionists in the country concur with a recent study that demands the mandatory fortification of some cereals to lead to the near eradication of anaemia.
Speaking exclusively to the ‘Sunday News,’ the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) Department of Nutrition Education and Training Director, Dr Joyceline Kaganda said that the problem of anaemia is big especially to children under five and women of child bearing age.
According to statistics provided by TFNC, the magnitude of anaemia is big where moderate anaemia affects 29.4 per cent of under five children while mild anaemia affects 27.3 per cent of under five children.
In terms of age, the age bracket among children that is affected by the disease is between 9 and 11 months which accounts for 81 per cent while the lowest age bracket is between 48 and 59 months pegged at 41.7 per cent.
Child anaemia regionally is even more shocking where in Dar es Salaam it is 69 per cent, Arusha 63.1 per cent, Morogoro 59.2 per cent, Tanga 53 per cent, Dodoma 47.8 per cent and Kilimanjaro 41.8 per cent. “Basing on the poor nutrition situation Tanzania is facing, there is great need of having mandatory fortification on some cereals,” she said.
According to the Medical News Today website, nutritional or vitamin deficiency anaemia refers to a reduced red blood cell count due to a poor diet which is deficient in iron, folate and/or Vitamin B12. Anaemia is a widespread public health problem associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality, especially in pregnant women and young children.
The study is entitled “near elimination of folate deficiency anaemia by mandatory folic acid fortification in older US adults: reasons for geographic and racial differences in stroke study 2003- 2007” published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Scientists from Emory University, University of Vermont, the CDC and the University of Alabama at Birmingham assessed the prevalence of folate deficiency and folate deficiency anaemia using data from 1,546 people participating in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke cohort.
“Although other factors such as increased supplement use and perhaps improved nutrition may have contributed to a decline in folate deficiency anaemia, reduction in both the prevalence of folate deficiency and folate deficiency anaemia are an added benefit of mandatory flour fortification,” wrote the researchers.
The study suggested that regulators in countries around the world considering folic acid fortification need to take into account the benefits on both newborns in preventing Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and in older adults in preventing folate deficiency anaemia.
Dr Kaganda said that Tanzania has made some progress where currently staple foods which are being fortified include wheat flour (to be fortified with iron, folate, zinc and vitamin B12), edible oil (to be fortified with vitamin A) and maize flour (to be fortified with iron, folate, zinc and vitamin B12).
She said that micronutrient malnutrition is a problem of public health significance affecting a large number of children and women of child bearing age in Tanzania.
“One of the interventions that are underway currently to control micronutrient deficiencies is the practice of food fortification, which involves the addition of essential micronutrients to staple foods,” she explained.
The TFNC Managing Director, Mr Benedict Jeje told this paper that fortification is now mandatory but this is for wheat and maize flour and edible oil.
He said that regulations were already in place though they needed, however, to be enforced and that the Tanzania Food and Drug Authority had the mandate to do so. The national nutrition strategy for 2011 to 2016 identifies food fortification as an important strategy to reduce the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in the country.
The aim is to reduce mortality and morbidity, increase cognition, productivity and contribute to economic growth. So far, the Food Fortification Action Plan, National Food fortification Regulations, National Food Fortification Standards, food fortification guidelines and manuals in English and Kiswahili have been developed and the training of food inspectors (government) and laboratory personnel (industry) on quality control/assurance.
By MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News
