- Enactment of the anti-tobacco law in 2013;
- Incoporation of a host of key interventions to combat these non-commnicable
diseases (NCDs) under primary healthcare in almost all the regions, the training of
health personnel in the provision of services for the various diseases in 2012;
- Mass screening of cases of NCDs since 2012;
- Assessment of tobacco use in schools in 2013;
- Rapid survey in respect of evaluation of blindness among the entire population;
5.11-Malnutrition and Nutritional Gap
235. It is the result of poor feeding habits due to unhealthy eating practices and the
prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases that develop under deficient individual
and collective environmental hygienic conditions. The nutritional profile is
characterised by low birth rate, stunted growth, emaciation and obesity.
236. Chronic malnutrition rate has subsided from 29.7% in 2010 to 27% with 10%
reflecting the severe type as against 23.7% (T/A < 2 ET). This performance is due to
the implementation of specific interventions in the area of nutrition, particularly the
handling of severe malnutrition, active screening of malnutrition in the community by
the ASC, the activities of some support groups for the ANJE, the vitamin A
supplementation campaigns and deworming by using albendazole and food
fortification. However, the main bottleneck is the under funding that has bedevilled
the scaling-up of these interventions. Chronic malnutrition affects 33 % of children
living in rural communities as against 16% in urban areas, with disparities between
the regions varying from 15% in the Lomé commune to 34 % for the Savannah
region.
237. The rate of severe malnutrition is 6.5% in 2014 (P/T < 2 ET) as against 14.3% in
2010 among children under five (5) years. Concerning the age, the prevalence of the
highest form of severe malnutrition has been recorded within the 9-11-month age
bracket where 24% of children are very lean. Regarding the height, the proportion of
children suffering from severe malnutrition decreased from 11 % among children
within the 12-17 month age group, to 5% among those between 24-35 months and 3
% for the ones in the 48-59 months age bracket. Furthermore, severe malnutrition
seems to be linked to the size of the children at birth, the level of education of the
mother and the economic well-being of the household, the economic situation of the
household (4 % as against 8 % for poor households).
238. The low birth rate reflects in underweight relative to the age. According to the
EDST III, the prevalence rate is 16% as against 26% in 2010 among children under
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