CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 22, No 5, September/October 2011
AFRICA
255
framework to address malnutrition, which means action is being
taken at all levels of causation.
53
Strategies employed include
provision of iron supplements to pregnant and postpartum
women, fortification of several food vehicles and dietary diver-
sification (using the food-based dietary guidelines). It has been
reported that some indicators are improving while others are
worsening over the years. In addition, reports have shown that
nutritional status varies considerably among the nine provinces
and possibly within each province.
54,55
On the other hand, iron overload has increasingly been recog-
nised as a public health issue in African populations, particularly
southern Africa, where the consumption of traditional beer has
been identified as a major contributor.
10
However, the results
of the present study suggest that increased abdominal obesity
may be another major contributor to increased iron stores in
this population. Therefore, it may be pertinent to scale up inter-
ventions to reduce obesity in this population, alongside ongo-
ing iron-intervention programmes. Furthermore, consideration
should be given to the use of different and locally relevant strate-
gies for different provinces, or possibly different municipalities
within a province. To further enhance the effort put into improv-
ing health and nutrition, different and relevant strategies address-
ing the various public health concerns of our population would
be helpful in arriving at the desired nutritional and health goals.
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