The Dunedin Tamil Society and Wahine Charitable Trust, with the support of Arasan NZ Trust and local restaurant Two Fat Indians, have collaborated on a dinner and talk that aims to raise awareness of the challenges of nutritional anaemia in the subcontinental community.
The event has been organised to coincide with Iron Awareness Week and includes a panel discussion with local specialists, Community and international nutrition authority Emeritus Prof Lisa Loughton, haematology, transfusion medicine, iron and blood donor health Associate Prof Jim Faed, nutrition specialist and youth voice Inchara Yoganarasimhaswamy, anaesthetist and subcontinental community member Dr Malar Ramesh and New Zealand registered dietitian Helen Gibbs.
Helping facilitate the event is Dr Carthika Luxmanan, who knows first-hand what it is like to experience anaemia.
"Anaemia is a reasonably significant problem faced by lots of subcontinental women."
She is from Sri Lanka, and has always been anemic.
Some of the physical changes for her personally were feeling faint and tiredness.
It also affected her hair and nail health.
Managing tiredness and lethargy, in particular within a busy lifestyle such as fulltime work or managing a family was a challenge.
"I think iron underlines so many things, I’m learning more and more about it."
There could be a number of factors for anaemia, including diet, genetics or behavioural factors.
One aspect was many women from the subcontinent, in particular India and Sri Lanka, were vegetarians.
This could make it more difficult to get a good amount of iron in their diet, but there were ways that it could be done.
One of the aims of the local event was to provide discussion about helpful ways to add iron to women’s diets in simple ways.
"I am really looking forward to it, I am looking forward to the conversation."
Dr Luxmanan said the event was open to everybody and she hoped members of different South Asian communities would feel encouraged to attend.
- Iron deficiency and nutritional anaemia — dinner and discussion. Monday, 6pm to 8.30pm. Two Fat Indians restaurant, 58 Princes St. To book tickets (including dinner) email vanakkam@dunedintamilsociety.org.nz
