An official in the ministry of health announced plans to introduce nutrition programs under the comprehensive Health Reform Plan.
Dr. Zahra Abdollahi told ISNA that “lowering the risks of poor nutrition is imperative to controlling and prevention of non-infectious diseases like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases” and hence the importance of nutrition in the health policy.
She said cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death in the country and blamed ‘’poor nutrition’’ as the main cause. “To prevent and control the spread of such diseases, we need nutrition experts to raise awareness on what constitutes healthy diet,” Abdollahi said.
Better Choices
She said as part of the mission, diet and nutrition experts will be present at health centers to advise and educate people to make better healthy eating choices. ‘’There will be one nutritionist per 30,000 or 50,000 population at the centers,’’ she said.
Abdollahi stressed the need for prevention of diseases through diet awareness programs and said “we deem it necessary to step up prevention and improve people’s diets in order to check the alarming rise of non-infectious diseases in the society.’’
The Health Reform Plan took off on May 5 this year and is aimed to revolutionize the health care system. Making health care universal and more affordable for the entire population is the main target of the plan.
