Stronger focus on nutrition within health services could save 3.7 million lives by 2025

India

healthysoch.com

New Delhi, September 08, 2019 :

Health services must integrate a stronger focus on ensuring optimum nutrition at each stage of a person’s life, according to a new report “Essential Nutrition Actions: mainstreaming nutrition throughout the life course” released by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is estimated that the right investment in nutrition could save 3.7 million lives by 2025.

“In order to provide quality health services and achieve Universal Health Coverage, nutrition should be positioned as one of the cornerstones of essential health packages,” said Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General at WHO. “We also need better food environments which allow all people to consume healthy diets.” Essential health packages in all settings need to contain robust nutrition components but countries will need to decide which interventions best support their national health policies, strategies and plans.

Key interventions include : providing iron and folic acid supplements as part of antenatal care; delaying umbilical cord clamping to ensure babies receive important nutrients they need after birth; promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding; providing advice on diet such as limiting the intake of free sugars in adults and children and limiting salt intake to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.