Africa-Press – Mozambique. 37 per cent of children living in the central Mozambican province of Sofala are suffering from chronic malnutrition, according to a survey carried out by the prominent Mozambican NGO, the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
According to the FDC delegate in Beira, Diogo Milagre, speaking during the presentation of the survey, “this result shows that we are not doing well, we continue to have malnutrition rates above 30, 37 per cent, which means that we are compromising the future of these children.”
He recalled that, over the last year, chronic malnutrition affected 35.9 per cent of children “and among the causes are cultural habits and food preparation methods.”
“There are cultural challenges, food preparation, even in the priorities we give to our food. Note that there are producers who achieve high yields but sell everything, and in periods of drought, they are unable to maintain a diet that provides a sustainable balance. Therefore, these are the challenges that we need to look at from the family and from a systemic perspective”, he said.
In order to reverse this scenario, UNICEF is calling for behavioural change through the training of community actors “focused on strengthening the system and community capacity.”
“UNICEF has been promoting a programme package that includes three key areas: health and nutrition, water and sanitation, and behavioural change. We must be able to train community agents as multi-skilled actors for health in the communities”, said Lucinda Majama, the UNICEF representative at the event.
According to the Mozambican government’s Food and Nutritional Security Technical Secretariat (SETSAN) , over two million people are facing acute food deprivation in the country.
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