Imewekwa: 2nd Jan, 2018

Adolescent (girls) aged 10 to 19 years in Tanzania suffer from a double burden of being left out in benefiting from iron and folic acid supplementation services together with low dietary intake of iron and poor bioavailability of iron consumed against the significant increase in requirements.

This was revealed during the Regional Technical and Advocacy Meeting on Adolescent Health and Nutrition, held early February 2017 at Julius Nyerere Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

High rate of infection, worm infestation and onset of menstruation are also notably causes of anaemia to women of reproductive age particularly Adolescent girls. Anemia in Adolescent girls in future attributes to high maternal morbidity and mortality rate, high incidence of low birth weight babies, high perinatal mortality and fetal wastage.

It was reported that in developing countries prevalence of anaemia is particularly high. It is estimated that about half of adolescent girls living in sub-Saharan Africa are anaemic.For the case of Tanzania, Data from Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2015-16 shows that 45 women out of every 100 aged 15-49 years are anemic, of which half of them (47%) are Adolescent aged 15 to 19 years.

The purposes of the meeting was to share and discuss latest evidence regarding interventions on Adolescent Health and Nutrition, as well as help countries understand how the WHO guidelines can be adopted and implemented at country level.

The meeting which was officiated by the Director of Preventive Services, Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC), Dr. Neema Rusibamayila on behalf of the Minister for Health Hon. Ummy Mwalimu was funded by the Micronutrient Initiative Regional Office for Africa (MI) through MI Tanzania Office. Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre under the MoHCDGC coordinated the meeting. Delegates from Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya and host Tanzania attended the regional meeting.

Official closing was done by Prof. Ayoub Magimba Director of Non Communicable Diseases MoHCDGEC representing the Permanent Secretary of MoHCDGEC Dr, Mpoki Ulisubisya.