Survey Shows Many Belizeans Are

Do you ever think of your vitamin B12 intake? Well, you should, a national survey was conducted by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and it found that Belizeans have low levels of Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 - so much so that it is classified as a public health concern.

The survey was conducted during 2011-2012 and sampled of 1,979 adults and children from across the country The objective of the survey was to find out the prevalence of deficiencies of Folic Acid,Vitamin A and Vitamin B12 among women of reproductive age 15-49 years old and children 6-59 months in Belize.

The findings show widespread folic acid deficiencies among women of reproductive age directly relating to the high prevalence of neural tube defects in children. An epidemiologist form the CDC explained:

Dr. Jorge Rosenthal - Epidemiologist, CDC
"It's a regional problem, the problems of anemia. However, it varies in Costa Rica because of good fortification - they have 45 different staples - they have reached the highest proportion of the population and they have decreased in not only in the problems of anemia , the problem of micronutrients but as well we have immortality, prematurity and so on."

Reporter
"What happens with results here, what does CDC do with them now?"

Dr. Jorge Rosenthal
"It's not CDC, we have been providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in Belize and I think this survey is very important for Belize because it establishes a baseline information for micronutrients in pregnant women of childbearing age and kids 6-9 months of age. With this information and the results of this survey, we have found that there are several issues - we have found some successes and some problems. I will start with the successes - for example vitamin A deficiency is very low in women and in children - the country has been very successful. However, there are still some small percentage below 2% in women and 1% in children who are still deficient then really want to reach elimination of vitamin A deficiency - you have to target those groups. In regard to micronutrients I will be more specific, anemia is still a problem - the micorzination among children and women, it's around 22%. However, there are still good news about it - although it's a problem, the proportion of cases are due to mild anemia. In mild anemia has a better chance to be tackled that moderate or severe anemia."

Current corrective measures include the recent grant approval from the European Union of over five million dollars toward the improvement of mothers and newborn healthcare to reduce the incidence of mortality in children less than five.

Channel 7