Africa-Press – Angola. At least 476 children, mostly fewer than five years old, have died from malnutrition in central Huambo province from January to the present date, compared to 286 deaths recorded in 2024.
The information was disclosed Wednesday by the local supervisor of the Nutrition program, Cármen Mossovela Catumbela, adding that the deaths resulted from 5,596 diagnosed cases, compared to 4,526 the previous year.
The official lamented the fact that malnutrition is associated, in most cases, with other diseases, such as malaria and early weaning, the latter being considered the main cause of the children’s deaths.
She said the municipalities of Caála, Huambo and Londuimbali are the most worrying in terms of cases of child malnutrition.
To reverse this situation, she said, health authorities are intensifying awareness campaigns in communities, especially in rural areas, about the importance of primary health care and healthy eating, using local and diverse products.
“Unfortunately, we have found that many families, despite having a variety of foods harvested from their own fields, such as tubers, pumpkins, soybeans, legumes, vegetables, and raising laying hens, do not recognize the nutritional value of these foods or the various ways of preparing them that maximize the supply of nutrients for children,” she said.
Catumbela highlighted that combating malnutrition requires combined efforts between the State, families, and civil society.
The province of Huambo, located in the Central Plateau of Angola, has 13 specialized nutrition units, distributed across 11 of its 17 municipalities.
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