• One teaspoon of iodine – consumed in tiny amounts on a regular basis over a lifetime – is sufficient to prevent the conditions known collectively as iodine deficiency disorders (IDD).

• Inexpensive iron/folate supplements can prevent maternal and infant deaths. Even when iron-rich foods – liver, red meats, eggs, fish, whole-grain bread, legumes – are not affordable, fortifying staple foods such as wheat and rice, the staple for most Indians can reach a large portion of the population.

• In malaria-endemic countries, anti-malarial interventions such as bed nets are critical for preventing anaemia because malaria is often a major underlying factor.

• Vitamin A supplementation is the fastest and most cost-effective approach to improving the vitamin A status of the population. Supplementation using vitamin A capsules can begin at six months old in areas where children do not get enough vitamin A in their diets. Capsules are very inexpensive and can be distributed through expanded programmes on routine immunization.

• Breastfeeding support is key to reducing VAD among young children. New mothers should receive high-dose vitamin A supplementation within eight weeks of delivery in areas where deficiency exists.

It sometimes appears that we are so obsessed with problems that we fail to look at the solutions even if they are simple and well within reach. Maybe we need to get out of problem orientation to solution orientation and look at ways to implement these efficiently and effectively.

For more such discussions visit http://www.csopartners.org.in

Ipsita Basu

Cities in the developing world are economic power-horses. They produce enormous amount of wealth with little input cost. The input costs are little because the poor subsidize these though low wages and things that are associated with it- squalid conditions of living, poor health, no job security.

With all these, they work towards creating opulence in the cities. Take the example of the construction workers engaged in the creation of a swanky mall, who can only afford a temporary shack for himself and his family….

Cities, especially those in the developing nations have pockets of extreme deprivation together with extreme wealth. They have people who over-consume health care, together with people who forego the most basic and essential care for financial reasons. In every corner of the world, certain city dwellers suffer disproportionately from poor health, and these inequities can be traced back to differences in their social and living conditions.

With the cities growing larger, their populations of the poor are growing larger even faster. Despite huge differences, the health consequences of poverty and squalid living conditions are contagious in a city setting- not all public health problems remain confined to the slums, they are detrimental to all city dwellers and nobody can claim complete insulation. Given this, can we undermine the need for equity in health?

For more of such discussions visit http://www.csopartners.org.in/blog
-Ipsita Sapra