Find micronutrients in green vegetables
Ruhal Haque directs researchers
Rather than relying on foreign remedies, locally made solutions need to be discovered to fight against malnutrition, which has become a major problem of the nation, said Health and Family Planning Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque at a meeting.
He urged the country's researchers to find out sources of micronutrients in various green vegetables like lal shak (red spinach), kochu (colocasia), which are locally available in abundance, to curb malnutrition.
The country loses more than Tk 7,000 crore in economic productivity each year due to malnutrition, showed results of a study titled “Investing in nutrition now: A Smart start for our children, our future” unveiled at the meeting.
The meeting on “Profiles and nutrition costing technical report 2012” was jointly organised by the government and USAID at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital on Sunday.
The health minister, while addressing as chief guest, said “Very few mothers in the country breast feed their babies up to six months.”
They also protested the use and import of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) in the country.
USAID Bangladesh Mission Director Richard Greene underscored the need to allocate necessary resources for implementing proven nutrition interventions at scale and across sectors and to champion nutrition at national, regional and district levels.
The cost of providing effective nutrition services was estimated in the range of Tk 900 to 1,200 crore per year, which was only 11 percent of the total amount budgeted for the health, population and nutrition sector.
Net benefit of these investments in nutrition in terms of increased economic productivity alone will exceed Tk 70,000 crore by 2021.
State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mozibur Rahman Fakir, Population Council Adviser AKM Zafar Ullah Khan and Bangladesh FHI360 Country Director Misti McDowell also addressed the programme with Institute for Public Health Nutrition Director Prof Dr Md Ekhlasur Rahman in the chair.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments