Whereas progress has lately been made in decreasing unemployment and poverty in Tajikistan, malnutrition continues to be widespread. Half of all youngsters underneath the age of 5 undergo from iodine deficiency, and 1 / 4 undergo from stunting, placing their futures in danger. As well as, weight problems and diet-related illnesses akin to, coronary heart illness and hypertension are rising. In response, the Authorities has joined the Scaling Up Vitamin (SUN) motion, committing to enhance diet within the nation. With FAO’s technical assist, members of the Company of Statistics within the area of Khatlon had been educated within the assortment and evaluation of WDDS knowledge, and assisted in conducting a neighborhood pilot survey. The WDDS, or Ladies’s Dietary Range Rating, is a qualitative international diet indicator which counts the variety of meals teams consumed by an individual over the 24 hours previous the take a look at. The target is to combine a diet factor into the annual Family Funds Survey (HBS). Given the response of the coaching, the Authorities has determined to combine the WDDS knowledge into the HBS, and FAO has been requested to help in coaching the remaining areas of the nation.
Tajikistan is a rustic with a younger inhabitants. Seven out of ten of its individuals are underneath the age of 30, and the nation views this younger and rising era as an vital asset to put money into for the long run. In recent times, they’ve achieved important progress in decreasing unemployment and combating poverty, and now they’re turning their concentrate on diet.
Malnutrition is widespread in Tajikistan. Present diets are excessive in sugars and saturated fat, and poor in mineral-rich vegetables and fruit, leading to a prevalence of diet-related issues akin to weight problems, hypertension, coronary heart illness, and chronic under-nutrition. These issues notably have an effect on the youthful inhabitants, with half of all youngsters underneath 5 years of age affected by iodine deficiency, and 1 / 4 affected by stunting.
Scaling Up Vitamin
In response, the Authorities of Tajikistan joined the Scaling Up Vitamin (SUN) motion in September 2013, committing to enhance diet for all. With malnutrition issues within the nation being primarily associated to poor diets, the primary precedence was to arrange an enough info system to know and monitor the standard and variety of individuals’s diets. This is able to enable nationwide authorities to plan and design acceptable programmes to deal with successfully and sustainably the foundation causes of malnutrition within the nation.
What have you ever eaten within the final 24 hours?
With FAO’s technical assist (and funding from the European Union), Tajikistan’s Company of Statistics and Ministry of Well being applied a dietary evaluation pilot survey within the Khatlon area, underneath the challenge “Strengthening of the Nationwide meals safety info system in Tajikistan”. The target was to provide knowledge informing the Company on the range and high quality of native diets, with respect to World Well being Group suggestions. The primary focus of the challenge is the introduction of the Ladies’s Dietary Range Rating, a easy qualitative international diet indicator which counts the variety of meals teams consumed by an individual inside a interval of 24 hours.
The indicator focuses on girls as a result of, given their particular dietary wants (particularly moms and would-be moms) and particular position in household diet (girls statistically prioritize the meals wants of their relations earlier than satisfying their very own), if girls’s excessive dietary wants are met, it implies with a excessive diploma of certainty that the dietary wants of the opposite relations are additionally happy. The concept behind this knowledge assortment is that it will present what meals individuals are consuming extra of, and that are being consumed much less. The target of the train is to combine a diet part into the annual Family Funds Survey.
“I feel this dietary range examine will assist us perceive points at family stage,” mentioned Professor Azonov, on the Vitamin Institute of Tajikistan. “It’s going to contribute to additional prevention of malnutrition, and to the development of the diet scenario in Tajikistan.”
Creating native capacities
In Might 2014, staff of the Company of Statistics had been invited to a 6-day coaching workshop. 4 days of the workshop had been dedicated to lectures, group workout routines, focus group dialogue, and position enjoying. The lectures lined the fundamental ideas of meals and diet safety evaluation, the several types of food-based indicators and the best way to incorporate WDDS knowledge into assessments. The ultimate two days had been dedicated to area journeys with hands-on expertise on the best way to conduct WDDS knowledge from members of native households and communities.
“This workshop and the meals group adaptation course of had been very helpful,” mentioned Abdugaffor Sultonov, Company of Statistics Chief Specialist in Kurgan Tyube. “We improved our information of frequent meals gadgets and meals, and included these into our instruments to observe diets.”
Simple and dependable
The WDDS is a straightforward and dependable methodology. It offers knowledge that helps the federal government of Tajikistan monitor the progress in enhancing diets and diet, and devise and implement robust insurance policies and programmes. Thus far, response to the workshop and assist for the programme has been strongly constructive.
The outcomes of the information assortment and evaluation had been introduced to the Authorities in October 2014. Given the success of diet knowledge assortment within the pilot part, FAO has been requested by the Company of Statistics to supply additional help in coaching up locals within the remaining districts of the nation.
