Food Safety and Public Health Issues in Bangladesh: A Regulatory Concern

Introduction

The article under analysis is ‘Food Safety and Public Health Issues in Bangladesh: A Regulatory Concern’ by Abu Ali. The author’s research problem is the adulteration of food and its negative and deleterious influence on the human health, especially on the health of infants. Consumption of food that is adulterated poses a health issue. A health issue that is presented by adulterated food has negative impacts on the public health besides having the potential to cause food poisoning to the person who consumes it. The author presents four research questions, they are:

1. Does unhygienic handling of food poses a health issue to premature babies?
2. Is there a documented case of presence of formalin and DDT in food meant for premature babies?
3. Are there other forms of food adulterations?

The author uses secondary evidence from the previous studies to support the points that he postulates in relation to the four research questions and the research objective. These points are pegged per research question. The evidence is presented in statistics from the World Health Organization, Institute of Public Health, and Ministry of Health and Food Welfare.

There are two hypotheses that the author of the article presents. The first hypothesis asserts that food handling and coloring is not a lead cause to food adulteration, posing a health risk to premature babies. The second hypothesis states that there are no failures in regulation of food by the government of Bangladesh. Results of the study show that the legal framework in the field of public health is weak thus exposing the populace to various health risks. There are eight organizations within Bangladesh that are under the patronage of the Bangladesh parliament. The organizations are pseudo autonomous and lack adequate coordination in discharging their mandate to ensure that food components that are consumed by the premature babies are safe. Process of arriving at the conclusion begins with an overview of each research question in relation to the two hypotheses and the main research objective. The research questions depict over fifteen legislations that give the eight aforementioned organizations varying mandate in ensuring food safety for the public. Lack of harmonization of the fifteen legislations and lack of coordination of the eight bodies with mandate of cushioning the public against food adulteration flourishes food vending business that adulterates food.

Research Methods

The research is current and relevant in regard to today existing health issues. First, premature babies have to rely on a specialized feeding method to ensure that the food they consume does not cause negative effects on their bodies. The immunity of the premature children is usually low thus there is a need to take a critical consideration in the food contents that are given to the premature babies (Ali, 2013). Usually, premature babies are being fed through food pipes.

Premature babies in hospitals are being fed in the neonatal intensive care units with the approval of qualified nutritionists. However, there are documented evidences of some premature children dying in the neonatal intensive care units due to the food that they consume. Such cases are mainly prominent in the developing countries that do not have a functional health infrastructure. Death of premature babies contributes to infant mortality (Ali, 2013). Infant mortality is a health issue that is of a global concern to international organizations such as the World Health Organization and to the health ministries of the countries. The research method that the author uses by applying critical analysis to the regulatory and legal framework of Bangladesh is also relevant to the current health issues that premature babies face.

The research type that is utilized in the sturdy is non-experimental. The study mainly analyzes the current regulatory framework and legislations that govern the food sector in Bangladesh (Ali, 2013). Particular emphasis is put on the applicability of the legislations in ensuring food safety for all, including premature babies. The premature babies are at a higher risk of being affected by the current food contents based on the level of immunity that they have. Since the study is non-experimental, there are no samples that were used in the study. The study is an analysis of the efficacy of the current legislations and the needs assessment for the legislation. The research method that the author uses is practical. The researcher suggests that there is need to streamline the current health legislations to ensure that the authorities concerned with food safety are effective in their operations (Ali, 2013). Application of the results that the author presents requires distinct separation of the roles of the authorities and specificity of the health legislation to specific age groups. The premature babies are a special sub group of the population who require relevant and tailored legislation to ensure that they receive specialized food. For me, collapsing the existing legislations and enacting a single legislation under one regulatory body seems practical. One regulatory body under the guidance of one legislation is able to ensure that premature babies behold the right to have appropriate feeding program in relation to status of their health.

There are various ways through which the study could have been improved. First, reliance in primary data is critical in enabling the study to draw valuable results. Results from a research that is based on primary data are easily applicable to the general population. Second, review of success of the legislations under study is necessary in validating the results that are presented in the study. The writing of the article is clear and straightforward. The author does not use technical jargon thus it is easy to understand the results that the author presents in the study.

Further research needs to be conducted in the field of food for the premature babies. The area for food supplements for the premature children is a grey area that requires legislations to enforce. There is need to conduct more research on how to improve efficacy of drug administration through the intravenous line. Premature children need to consume food through the intravenous lines. Critical need, however, lies in the need to have access to the high quality food nutrients that need to be contained in the feeding tubes. Second area of research is on the legislation that guides the feeding of children whose mothers have no ability to provide milk to the newborns. There is a need to conduct research on the policies that regulate milk feeds that are issued to the premature babies and on the institutions that create such legislation. Premature babies are born below thirty five weeks, thus they have special nutrients needs to ensure that they grow up healthy. The study needs to integrate neonatologists and nutritionists in the study sample to draw results that are applicable to the general population.

Conclusion

The discussion that the author presents is based on four research questions and enables one to develop a coherent understanding of the relationship between the research objectives. In relation to the topics that are discussed in the course, nursing is the act of taking care of sick people. Premature babies require nursing care to ensure that they develop in the same way as children who are born at forty weeks or more (Gorman & Landale, 2005). Part of the study course opines that any child who is born below thirty five weeks is premature thus it needs to receive critical and specialized care. The study is shallow on the specific legislations that pertain to the feeding of the premature babies. The study does not postulate the remarkable milestones that the public health policies have on the health and feeding programs of the premature children.

There is a general agreement that there is need to collapse all existing legislations and develop a single legislation that covers all the feeding needs. However, little emphasis is put on the feeding of the premature babies. The extent to which the article discusses the feeding of the premature babies is limited to the food nutrients that they consume and not to the feeding methods. As such, the study has a clear limitation since there is no data that backs up the need of the single legislations. Validity of a research is determined by the ability to apply the findings that are presented in the study.  Though there is data from the secondary sources, the author of the article needs to list the samples of the study that are related to feeding of the premature babies.

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