Govt must value nutrition integration

duplication of efforts and ensure efficient use of resources, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Speaking during the official opening of a regional conference on Infant and Young Child Nutrition that started in Harare yesterday, WHO representative, Dr Custodia Mandlhate, said countries should deliberate on how best to alleviate under nutrition in the region.
“The ultimate aim of this consultation is to get African input for the preparation of the implementation plan on infant and young child nutrition,” said Dr Mandlhate.
She said nutrition should be regarded as both a public health and development issue and must be reflected in all country policies, if countries were to meet set global targets.
“Our records show that only 14 countries in sub-saharan Africa are on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal one – the target of cutting hunger and malnutrition by 2015.
“At this current slow rate of progress it is unlikely that the region can meet the target,” she said.
Dr Mandlhate said unless coherent and innovative national strategies that were well funded and supported were urgently put in place, the region would not meet child related MDGs.
The three-day conference is a follow up meeting to a commitment made by Ministers of Health and Child Welfare last year on increased interventions to reduce malnutrition, scale up integrated interventions to improve infant and young child health and also to review policy frameworks on the same.
According to WHO, prevalence of low birth weight in Sub saharan Africa continued to be as high as 14 percent.
Furthermore, Africa accounts for 40 percent of the 195 million children under the age of five who are stunted- worst form of malnutrition- globally and under nutrition accounts for 35 percent of child deaths globally.
In Zimbabwe under weight for under fives increased from 13 percent in 1999 to 16,6 in 2006 while stunting rose from 26,5 percent to 29,4 percent during the same period. Wasting – the acute form of under nutrition remained stable at 6 percent over the years.
Moreso, the Zimbabwe National Nutrition and Food Security Assessment of October 2007 showed that the prevalence of underweight slightly increased to 17,4 percent, wasting was 4,1 percent and stunting was 28,9 percent.