DEPUTY Minister for Health, Dr Edwin Mollel has asked fellow Members of Parliament (MPs) to intensify the fight against malnutrition in the country, insisting that there was lack of seriousness amongst some stakeholders.
He said the problem has not been given the deserved priority even as there are still several interventions, most of which do not reach the targeted groups of people.
It is estimated that the country will lose 20 billion US dollars 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 4.7 billion US dollars by 2025.
DrMollel made the statement while officiating at a seminar for MPs who are champions of nutrition on the ongoing United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded LisheEndelevu (Sustainable Nutrition) project.
The five-year project is expected to be completed in May next year, according to Partnership for Nutrition in Tanzania (PANITA) representative Jane Msagati.
The meeting was organized by PANITA, a civil society alliance of over 300 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), comprising those from within and outside the country with geographical span covering the entire country.
PANITA is dedicated to building the political and public-will, commitment and support to end malnutrition in Tanzania.
DrMollel underscored the need to have a specific law to ensure all policy matters regarding malnutrition in the country are affected to the latter.
He admitted that despite good plans and strategies laid by the government, nutrition issues do not have enough push to help change the situation since the challenge is big in food basket regions.
The deputy minister pointed fingers to non-governmental organizations, some of which he said claim to have nutrition projects, yet they are not doing much on the ground.
"It is surprising that an organization claiming to help in nutrition issues spend over 7m/- on printing flyers and such things while the nutrition challenge needs only 700,000/- and the remaining budget goes to seminars, trainings, among others," he said.
DrMollel also noted that the public ought to know the difference between food and nutrition and people refrain from many seminars but direct the budget on the ground where projects are being implemented.
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The Chairperson of lawmakers under the umbrella of Champions of Nutrition, MrDunstan Kitandula, said that there was still a challenge of dealing with nutrition issues in the country, despite voices raised by the lawmakers in the past five years.
During her presentation to MPs,MsMsagati from PANITA, noted that malnutrition was still rife in many district councils due to lack of political will within leaders, adding that even budget allocation to nutrition matters was not always disbursed.
"The matter is well articulated in the ruling CCM party election manifesto but unfortunately implementation is a big challenge" she said, calling on MPs to oversee this.
The Chief of Party for USAID/ LisheEndelevu, DrJoycelineKaganda, said the government had demonstrated its commitment to nutrition through the National Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (NMNAP) complemented by sectoral and cross-cutting policies, frameworks, and structures.
DrKaganda added that the Lishe Endelevu Project is implemented in four regions of Dodoma, Morogoro, Iringaand Rukwa in partnership with other non-governmental organizations like Deloitte, PANITA and Save the Children.
The plan confirms the government's commitment to reduce stunting in children under age of five from 34 to 28 percent.
It aims to reduce stunting in children under age of five in four targeted regions, increasing the proportion of women of reproductive age consuming a diet with a minimum acceptable diversity of foods.
