Invest in micronutrient/iodine nutrition to sustain growth: Nobel Prize economist |
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With governments pinched between high food prices and astronomical oil prices, 2004 Nobel Economics prize-winner Finn E. Kydland has vocally advocated shunning consumer subsidies in favor of investing in sustainable growth, particularly in directing resources to micronutrient nutrition including promoting iodized salt. The International News (Karachi, Pakistan) has the story.
The 2004 Nobel Laureate in Economics Finn E Kydland said there would be high benefits from providing micronutrients, particularly vitamin A and zinc, to undernourished children in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These help prevent neonatal death. The cost is tiny. Reaching 80 per cent of the world’s 140 million or so undernourished children would require a commitment of around $60 million annually, while the economic gains would eventually clear $1 billion a year. For the under nourished children in Pakistan, the cost would be around $15 million or Rs105 million.
Providing iron and iodized salt is another top investment according to Kydland. He said fortifying products with iron costs as little as $0.12 per person, per year. For Pakistan the total iron fortification cost would be $19.2 million or Rs1.34 billion. He said iron deficiency leads to cognitive and developmental problems. He said that for $286 million we could get iodized salt and fortified basic food items to 80 per cent of those in the worst-affected areas, with benefits estimated to be roughly nine times that sum. Even if Pakistan has 10 per cent of the worlds worst, the amount needed would be $28.6 million or Rs2 billion. He said unglamorous interventions like de-worming would allow children to be better nourished.
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