Mozambique: Prevalence of chronic malnutrition in Nampula worries Mety Gondola – Ikweli

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Mozambique: Prevalence of chronic malnutrition in Nampula worries Mety Gondola – Ikweli

7:22 CAT | 14 Jun 2021

File photo: Ikweli

The Secretary of State for Nampula province, Mety Gondola, has expressed concern about the prevalence of chronic malnutrition among children in the area, despite its high potential for food production.

The state representative’s concern was expressed on Thursday (June 10) during a national dialogue on the food and nutrition security situation in Mozambique in the provincial capital, Nampula, held under the motto “Contributing to improving the food and nutrition security situation in Mozambique”.

Speaking to public and private sectors stakeholders who deal with food and nutrition security issues in the country in general, and particularly in Nampula province, Gondola explained that the government, together with its cooperation partners, had done much to tackle the problem of malnutrition as a whole.

From a production point of view, the effects are visible, but the population still suffers from high levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity, particularly in rural areas.

Metty Gondola also said that the gap between the efforts undertaken and the results obtained was also visible when an analysis is made from a global point of view. In his view, the world defined the approaches, the priorities and then configured them throughout the structuring of sustainable development objectives, but it could also be maintained that the results achieved, unfortunately similar to those in Nampula, were not satisfactory.

“This space for national dialogue arises as a response to what we have all been seeing recently, in which many efforts, by other various governments and international organizations have been made to lead the world, the country and the province in particular, so that we can all have a dignified life. Likewise, this space arises as a response to the fact that these efforts, unfortunately, are not having the effects that we all want,” Gondola stressed.

It was on the basis of this evidence that the government of Mozambique, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, had created a space to “propose changes and to structure processes in order to obtain better results in the fight against food and nutrition insecurity, involving the public and private sector, as they represent the most diverse sensitivities at community level”.

“Let’s not lose sight of the need to identify barriers to accessing safe and nutritious food in production processes,” the Provincial Secretary of State urged. “We must pay attention to the availability of means and programs which can allow communities to become less vulnerable to climate change, to food insecurity situations caused by conflict and to changes in the general framework of relationships which compromise the production, distribution, access and consumption of the most varied goods,” he said.

According to the nutrition sector of the Provincial Health Service in this northern part of Mozambique, just over 4,000 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in Nampula in the first three months of this year, with Monapo and Eráti districts and Nampula [city] exhibiting the highest prevalence.

By Emerald Boquisse

Source: Jornal Ikweli