Deputy Prime Minister for Social Matters Gheorghe Brega said the objectives of the national program to reduce disorders caused by iron and folic acid deficiency until 2017 haven’t been achieved. On his Facebook page, the official wrote that he asked the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center to open investigations into the defective use of funds and inconsistency in implementing the program, IPN reports.
According to Gheorghe Brega, in 2010-2015 UNICEF provided about US$1 million in technical assistance to the Government, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, for implementing the program. But the set objectives weren’t achieved. The purchased equipment and materials are not used to fortify flour. The bought premixes weren’t used and these expired.
Of all the beneficiaries of the project, only SA “Franzeluta” produces insignificant quantities of fortified bread. The other recipients of money from UNICEF do not make fortified bread for different groundless reasons.
In 2012, it was announced that the program envisions a 30% reduction in the cases of iron-deficiency anemia among pregnant women and children younger than five and a 20% reduction among the other categories of people by 2017. The iron and folic acid deficiency affects not only human health, but also the national economy. The incomes that fail to be collected as a result of the lower cognitive and work capacity caused by anemia represent 0.9% of the country’s GDP.
