The Ministry of Health drafted a national program on nutrition. Svetlana Cotelea, head of the Ministry’s Public Health Division, said the program imposes a number of conditions on food producers with a view to reducing the number of cases of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and sugar diabetes.

Svetlana Cotelea stated that the food industry producers will have to improve the quality of the food products and to respect the general food production rules by diminishing the content of salt, fats and sugar.

According to Svetlana Cotelea, the rise in taxes for unhealthy products is one of the successful policies implemented in a number of countries. It was proposed that such a practice should be used in Moldova too.

“We speak about the excessive eating of fats, sugar and highly processed food that lead to obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and sugar diabetes. The Ministry of Health has worked out new initiatives, including the strategy for controlling non-transmitted diseases that was already adopted by Parliament in 2012,” said the specialist.

She added that all the health policies until now focused on the shortage of micronutrients in food products. There were designed a number of national programs to combat diseases caused by iodine deficiency and deficiency of folic acid. Two programs are under implementation. The conditions that lead to an increase in the number of persons suffering from non-transmitted diseases are a major problem that should be addressed.