By Friday Simbaya, Iringa
IRINGA Regional Commissioner (RC), Amina Masenza said little understanding of the appropriate use of food as well as eating mixed food and using of cereals brewing beer, is the reason for the existence of the problem of malnutrition in region.
RC issued the statement while opening a meeting of the regional and council nutrition committees on issues of maternal and child nutrition yesterday.
The meeting for nutrition issues for administrators at regional level was organized by The Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program (MBNP) is funded by USAID through the Feed the Future initiative. MBNP works in three regions in Tanzania and three districts in Zanzibar, helping communities reduce childhood stunting and maternal anemia.
She said that the various problems of malnutrition include stunting, disability and even kill children and women especially pregnant and lactating women.
She said that the community in general has been liable in one way or another in the presence of malnutrition.
She said that problem of poor nutrition continues to affect the economy and contribute to poverty.
"Poor nutrition also affects the growth of a child's development physically and mentally, so dim his/her contribution to the development of society and the nation," she said.
She explained that another factor leading to the existence of any problem of malnutrition in Iringa Region includes the state of poverty at the household level leads also struggling to get a full meal.
However, she said that the government in collaboration with partners has been taking various measures to tackle the problem of malnutrition in the country.
Those measures include the provision of education and awareness of the correct way of feeding, provision of vitamin A drops and medicines to treat worms, placement of iodine in salt and treatment for malnourished children.
In addition, she said that pregnant women are given folic acid minerals to boost red blood cells.
She said pregnant women are given drugs to treat malaria and worms, along with education and motivation about the use of mosquito nets to prevent mosquito bites.
On her part, Child Nutrition Specialist from Tanzania Food and Nutritional Centre (TFNC), Neema Joshua said that figures in 2010 shows that 42 percent of children aged under five years in the country are stunting, ie failed to elongate to reach the height required based their age.
In addition, the nutritional status of women and is not good where 40 percent of women of reproductive age (15-49) in the country have shortage of red blood.
Similarly, children aged less than five years 59 percent are anemic and 53 percent of pregnant women have a deficiency of red blood cells.
She said that statistics show that the nutritional situation unsatisfactory while the region is among the regions with a lot of food production in the country.
she mentioned some of the damage caused by poor nutrition that are stunting, where Iringa Region occupies third place nationally with 52 percent, which means 52 children of the 100 children are stunting.
To recognize the urgency, the government has a five year national strategy on nutrition launched by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda on September 20, 2011 and will last until June 2016.
At the council level, to realize that nutrition is a crosscutting issue, the government has set a work program activities and nutrition on nutrition coordination committee of the council (council nutrition steering committee).
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