State banks on enriched foods to lower health costs

By Nicholas Waitathu

The cost of treating health-related diseases caused by a lack of sufficient nutrients in food is set to reduce.

This follows a requirement that all food items, including maize and wheat flour as well as vegetable oils and fats, be enriched with vitamins from July.

Gladys Mugambi, the food fortification project manager at the ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, said the programme is geared towards taming diseases such as malnutrition, stunted growth, anaemia, diabetes and obesity. 

Food crops

Mid last year, the Government enacted the Food, Drugs and Chemical Substances Act 2012 that requires millers dealing with food crops to enrich them to improve their nutritional value.

This, according to the Government, is geared towards improving the general health of the population and saving taxpayers billions spent annually fighting nutrient-deficiency diseases. 

Millers, however, have said they will have to increase the prices of their products from July to cover the cost of new machines and raw materials.

Diamond Lalji, the chairman of the Kenya Cereal Millers Association (KCMA), while agreeing that the country’s health bill will be reduced considerably, cautioned that consumers should brace for high prices as import duty on wheat is still high at 10 per cent.

Cost of equipment

“Every two-kilogramme wheat flour packet we produce from July will be Sh1 over the current price,” he said, calling on the Government to review its taxes on food products. 

However, Mugambi said the Government is ready to subsidise the cost of the equipment and pre-mix machinery by 50 per cent.

 “We have already procured Sh50 million from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition to help fund the millers,” she Mugambi said.

Industry sources estimate the cost of the machines required to facilitate food fortification to be Sh400,000 if bought from the UK.

Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) Executive Director Gerald Masila added that the country stands to register Sh530 billion in economic gains in the next seven years if the effects of nutrient deficiency are addressed.

But if nothing is done, he continued, the country stands to suffer an estimated Sh3.2 trillion loss in productivity. 

Labour force

Women, he added, are the most affected by nutrient deficiencies, with iron-deficiency anaemia in the female labour force causing an estimated Sh126 billion loss in productivity.

“More than 35 per cent of children in the country are malnourished and suffer from stunted growth, while over 52 per cent of women are anaemic and cannot perform their daily chores at an optimum level,” Mugambi noted.