Africa-Press – Mozambique. The levels of chronic malnutrition in Mozambican children under the age of five years have fallen six percentage points to 37% in the ten years to 2023, with “intense and cyclical” natural disasters being the predominant cause, Prime Minister Benvinda Levi said on Wednesday.
“The rate of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age has decreased from 43% in 2013 to 37% in 2023. However, levels of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in our country are still high, considering the parameters established by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is 20%,” said Prime Minister Levi after swearing in Carla das Dores Lázaro as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security (SETSAN) in Maputo.
According to the Prime Minister, several factors contribute to the high rate of chronic malnutrition in the country, including “intense and cyclical” natural disasters, characterized by droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, and epidemics, “which negatively impact food security”.
“To reverse this trend of food insecurity and continue to reduce chronic malnutrition rates, we have been implementing the Food and Nutrition Security Policy and Strategy [PESAN] 2024-2030 and its corresponding Multisectoral Action Plan,” Levi stated.
PESAN presents strategic guidelines and actions that guide the interventions of various key stakeholders, from the government, civil society, the private sector, and academia, “to ensure improved food and nutrition security”.
The Rural Environment Observatory (OMR), a Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO), warned in late July that Mozambique continues to experience critical levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity, highlighting 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,” states a report from the NGO.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 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 3-5% among children, suggesting that in normal times relatively few experience severe hunger, but these percentages increase during emergencies,” he added.
Civil society groups in the country have warned of the urgency of combating child malnutrition in Mozambique, a situation aggravated by climate and security factors.
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