Wait Nearly Over For Golden Rice Release In Bangladesh

Many people in developing countries cannot afford or access a diverse and healthy diet. Rice makes up to 70 percent of daily calorie intake of average Bangladeshis. But this staple mainly contains carbohydrate with some protein but deficient in essential micronutrients. Malnutrition caused by micronutrient-deficiency, also known as ‘hidden hunger’ is a serious public health concern in all over rice-eating Asia and beyond. Globally over two billion people are affected by micronutrient (iron, zinc, vitamin-A) deficiencies.

- Reaz Ahmad

Vitamin-A deficiency (VAD) is a serious and pervasive public health problem and leading cause of blindness among children. Globally 670,000 children die every year and 350,000 children go blind because of VAD. Over 90 million children in Southeast Asia suffer from VAD. It increases the risk of death from certain common infections among young children, affects pregnant and lactating women and can cause night blindness and increase the risk of maternal mortality.

In Bangladesh over 38 percent of the slum children under-5 years of age have VAD prevalence and the national VAD prevalence average is also as high as 20 percent (among children under five years of age). According to the World Health Organization’s global VAD database, one in every five pre-school children in Bangladesh is vitamin A-deficient. Among the pregnant women, 23.7 percent suffer from VAD.