Is Uganda becoming a pill-popping nation?
Mar 30, 2008
A friend of mine was feeling ill and went to a clinic for treatment. They took her temperature and said she was not ill, but mal-nourished. “What you need,†they told her, “is vitamin pills. Here you are, 60 tablets for 60 days, one a day. That will be sh50,000.
By Gusto Rowzer
A friend of mine was feeling ill and went to a clinic for treatment. They took her temperature and said she was not ill, but mal-nourished. “What you need,†they told her, “is vitamin pills. Here you are, 60 tablets for 60 days, one a day. That will be sh50,000.
What the clinic should have told her is to have a balanced diet. At sh800, a plate of matooke, sukuma wiki and groundnut sauce could give her all the nourishment she needs for a healthy life.
But since she comes from a wealthy family, she bought the vitamins, took one a day and felt a bit better. However, the pills could not give her fibre. She became constipated and developed a headache and pain in her kidneys.
That is when she went to a doctor who knew about clinical nutrition (a relatively new scientific basis for using diet to treat illnesses). From the diagnosis, the doctor found she was dehydrated and was short of both fibre and salt.
He immediately gave her a quarter tea spoonful of salt and a glass of water to wash it down. Then he told her about a balanced diet and the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), the food rich in vitamins and other nutrients needed to keep healthy.
My friend’s headache vanished within half- an-hour. Proper eating restored her health and vitality within a week.
In Uganda, every adult above 18 knows what to eat, how much and how to get it.
The women have indigenous technical knowledge, even though they may be illiterate and have never heard of RDA. However, their ancient knowledge is not transferred to the youth.
Students I have met assuage hunger with soda and snacks. The incidence of the resulting stomach ulcers is truly shocking.
Drugs in Uganda are highly-commercialised and profitable. One is driven to the conclusion that the population is very gullible and accepts to pay what the clinics and pharmacies demand.
Drugs are free in Government health centres, but many people seek treatment from traditional doctors, who may charge as much as urban clinics, but are more accessible and people have faith in them.
Some of the labels on vitamin pill packets knocks show the extend drugs are commercialised. One label stated: Each tablet of 2000 IUs (International Units) of vitamin A equal to the standard RDA.
It also stated that each tablet gives 2000 IUs of Beta Carotene, which converts into Vitamin A on digestion. Isn’t that an overdose?
A lot of people suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), especially in countries that do not grow or import golden rice or eat fish. Over 45% of Japan’s animal protein intake and nearly 100% of its vitamin A comes from fish.
I think it is about the same in Uganda. One can get all the Vitamin A needed daily and the 162 milligrams of calcium needed as your RDA from about 100g of fish.
The same goes for Vitamin C.
One can get RDA of vitamin (C-60mg daily) from a multi –vitamin pill at sh833, or from a 250ml orange juice, spinach or sukuma wiki at sh400 — cooked and on a plate, as one part of a square meal.
A friend of mine was feeling ill and went to a clinic for treatment. They took her temperature and said she was not ill, but mal-nourished. “What you need,†they told her, “is vitamin pills. Here you are, 60 tablets for 60 days, one a day. That will be sh50,000.
What the clinic should have told her is to have a balanced diet. At sh800, a plate of matooke, sukuma wiki and groundnut sauce could give her all the nourishment she needs for a healthy life.
But since she comes from a wealthy family, she bought the vitamins, took one a day and felt a bit better. However, the pills could not give her fibre. She became constipated and developed a headache and pain in her kidneys.
That is when she went to a doctor who knew about clinical nutrition (a relatively new scientific basis for using diet to treat illnesses). From the diagnosis, the doctor found she was dehydrated and was short of both fibre and salt.
He immediately gave her a quarter tea spoonful of salt and a glass of water to wash it down. Then he told her about a balanced diet and the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), the food rich in vitamins and other nutrients needed to keep healthy.
My friend’s headache vanished within half- an-hour. Proper eating restored her health and vitality within a week.
In Uganda, every adult above 18 knows what to eat, how much and how to get it.
The women have indigenous technical knowledge, even though they may be illiterate and have never heard of RDA. However, their ancient knowledge is not transferred to the youth.
Students I have met assuage hunger with soda and snacks. The incidence of the resulting stomach ulcers is truly shocking.
Drugs in Uganda are highly-commercialised and profitable. One is driven to the conclusion that the population is very gullible and accepts to pay what the clinics and pharmacies demand.
Drugs are free in Government health centres, but many people seek treatment from traditional doctors, who may charge as much as urban clinics, but are more accessible and people have faith in them.
Some of the labels on vitamin pill packets knocks show the extend drugs are commercialised. One label stated: Each tablet of 2000 IUs (International Units) of vitamin A equal to the standard RDA.
It also stated that each tablet gives 2000 IUs of Beta Carotene, which converts into Vitamin A on digestion. Isn’t that an overdose?
A lot of people suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), especially in countries that do not grow or import golden rice or eat fish. Over 45% of Japan’s animal protein intake and nearly 100% of its vitamin A comes from fish.
I think it is about the same in Uganda. One can get all the Vitamin A needed daily and the 162 milligrams of calcium needed as your RDA from about 100g of fish.
The same goes for Vitamin C.
One can get RDA of vitamin (C-60mg daily) from a multi –vitamin pill at sh833, or from a 250ml orange juice, spinach or sukuma wiki at sh400 — cooked and on a plate, as one part of a square meal.