Mozambique: Chronic malnutrition, food insecurity levels continue – NGO

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Mozambique: Chronic malnutrition, food insecurity levels continue – NGO

10:05 CAT | 01 Aug 2025

Image: VOA

The Rural Environment Observatory (OMR), a Mozambican non-governmental organization, warns that Mozambique continues to experience critical levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity, pointing to long-term consequences.

“Currently, Mozambique faces a paradoxical situation: despite having better overall food availability than at any other time in its recent history, it continues to experience critical levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity,” reads a report from the NGO.

According to the OMR, about a third of the Mozambican population is malnourished (29.5% in 2018-2020) and 37% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.

“Acute malnutrition is around 3% to 5% among children, suggesting that in normal times relatively few experience severe hunger, but these percentages increase during emergencies,” it states.

According to the organization, chronic malnutrition “has long-term consequences” for the country: “It is estimated that up to 10% of the GDP is lost annually due to reduced productivity, school performance, and health expenditures associated with child malnutrition.”

“In the field of sanitation, despite progress, gaps persist that affect nutrition. Only about 11% of rural areas had adequate sanitation in 2020, and drinking water coverage covered about 50% in rural areas (80% in cities),” the document states.

The OMR also explains that endemic diseases such as malaria and periodic outbreaks of cholera and other intestinal infections primarily affect communities with untreated water in Mozambique.

“The current situation is characterized by better average food access, but with persistent pockets of severe hunger during shock events and an unacceptable persistence of chronic malnutrition,” it states.

Among the consequences of this problem, the NGO highlights children with limited physical and cognitive development, less productive adults more prone to disease, and communities forced into survival strategies “which perpetuate poverty”.

“Thus, Mozambique is at a point where it must prevent deaths from hunger and ensure diversified and adequate diets and dignified living conditions so that all children grow up without malnutrition – that is, guarantee the human right to adequate food in its entirety, not just the minimum for survival,” the document adds.

The country has made progress in reducing food insecurity, but chronic malnutrition, especially among children under the age of five, remains high, affecting 37% of this population group, according to government data released in 2023.

To address this problem, the 2024-2030 Food and Nutrition Security Policy and Strategy (PESAN) was developed, aiming to integrate multi-sectoral efforts to ensure food and nutrition security throughout the country.

Released on June 20, the document aims to “provide quality technical assistance and create mechanisms to encourage those with technical and professional training to share their knowledge with surrounding producers”.

According to the executive secretary of the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security (SETSAN), over the last 10 years, the rate of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age has dropped from 43% (2013) to the current 37% (2023), levels considered very high when compared to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

Civil society groups in the country have warned of the urgency of combating child malnutrition in Mozambique, a situation exacerbated by climate and security factors.

Source: Lusa