Scaling up nutrition, scaling down obesity

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:07:59 +0000

GLOBALISATION has been both a blessing and a curse to developing countries such as Zambia. On the one hand we have never seen so many different products and services available to citizens, now also known as “consumers”.

Such excess is not evenly shared throughout society, however, particularly among the nation’s poorest. That surplus is definitely not healthy in the large doses enjoyed by the nation’s rich elites.

According to Hivos Southern Africa regional advocacy manager for sustainable foods, Henry Mulenga, Zambia is facing a double burden of malnutrition and obesity.

Put simply, we are faced with a double-barreled shotgun: one barrel loaded with the nation’s poor, 40 percent of whom exhibit stunted growth due to malnutrition, while the other barrel is filled with the well-off, 23 percent of whom are obese.

The gap between rich and poor could not be more clearly demonstrated than the contrast between stunted and undernourished citizens and those who need help to reduce their caloric intake.

Hivos has praised Government’s commitment to crop diversification, stating that “Zambians will be offered a great opportunity to eradicate hunger, malnutrition and even poverty when the country moves its focus to diverse food production, including high-protein beans and ground nuts.”

No doubt the planned expansion of the Social Cash Transfer will also encourage better nutrition among the country’s poorest citizens.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Civil Society Organisations for Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance has called on Government to introduce a so-called “Fat Tax”.

While the moniker might seem unfortunate or even insulting, a Fat Tax or consumption tax is not only one of the best and most progressive solutions to the growing burden of obesity, but also an excellent way to raise funds to supplement the national budget.

Such consumption taxes can and should be introduced or increased in cases where “sin taxes” already exist, particularly on consumption of detrimental products like alcohol or tobacco.

Critics and industry lobbyists will claim that increased taxes drive increased demand on the black market for smuggled goods. However, Zambia’s consumer market is already flooded with smuggled goods and those that have skillfully avoided paying customs and duties.

For us to best tackle all of these societal burdens, we need consistent and well-implemented tax increases, better regulation of consumer goods, and education for our citizens on best nutritional habits.

Raising taxes on potentially harmful consumer products such as fast food, sugary drinks, alcohol, and tobacco will help reduce consumption of these harmful products while also contributing to the nation’s treasury.

Increasing regulation of those potentially harmful consumer products will force the country and its authorities to finally take seriously the public health threat posed by those products while simultaneously improving our capacity to police the corporate sector.

And most importantly, educating the public will have far reaching consequences not least of all improving our nation’s ability to make informed decisions about what we put in our bodies, and what effect our consumption has on ourselves and our environment.

Young people in this country are growing up amid unprecedented access to food and other consumer goods that was unimaginable in Zambia a generation ago.

We can celebrate the growth of shopping malls and other such evidence of “development”, however, there is a serious hangover coming in the near future if it is not upon us already.

Conspicuous consumption is great for the corporate sector but a disaster for public health. Stunted growth due to malnutrition is not great for anyone, least of all government which is ultimately responsible for the nation’s wellbeing.

It’s time we reconsider the plenty that some of us are enjoying, acknowledge the poverty that many are enduring, and find lasting solutions that balance the scales in favour of all Zambians.