Investing in nutrition crucial

Beaven Dhliwayo Features Writer
A healthy lifestyle has become a major priority in the quest for meaningful living and, as all experts say, nutrition is its anchor.

Good nutrition is a basic need for everyone, everywhere.
Imagine a world where all women and children have the nutrition they need to live healthy, productive lives, nurturing families and communities and putting the world on a path towards greater economic prosperity.

Nutrition fuels people’s ambitions — from children enrolling in school, their stay in school and to attain better jobs in the future.

Nourishment fuels people’s health, providing the foundation for their well-being and that of future generations.
The world over, nutrition fuels progress.

Mounting research shows that a healthy diet improves brain performance and preserves brain function.
This implies that investing in collective brainpower means a more productive workforce and a thriving economy.

Nutrition fuels Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Averting malnutrition will help achieve at least 12 of the 17 SDGs and help create a healthy, prosperous, and stable world in which no one is left behind.
Investing in nutrition is also one of the best buys in global health and development.

Studies show that for every US$1 invested in nutrition, US$16 is returned to the local economy.
Government made a commitment during the 2013 London Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G), with the aim of putting nutrition at the centre of the country’s development agenda and making good nutrition one of the top political priorities as a way of facilitating increased domestic financing for nutrition.

The country vowed to address food and nutrition security in the context of economic growth and development and to ensure scaling up of food and nutrition security interventions as defined in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) framework, with a focus on the first 1 000 days of life and maternal nutrition.

Government also committed to reduce stunting by at least 40 percent in 2025 and maintain low acute malnutrition status of below three percent. Additionally, the country promised to honour existing global and regional commitments on allocations for social services (including health, agriculture, education and social protection) and ensure such investment is nutrition sensitive.

Delivering good nutrition is a priority for Zimbabwe, as signalled by its endorsement of the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact.

On June 8, 2013, world leaders, including SUN countries came together to sign a global compact that will prevent at least 20 million children from being stunted and save at least 1,7 million lives by 2020.

The Global Nutrition for Growth Compact was endorsed by 90 stakeholders, including development partners, businesses, scientific and civil society groups and an ambitious set of individual commitments to beat hunger and improve nutrition were made, including a US$4,15 billion financial commitment.

However, despite all these noble commitments, there is no substantial report for Zimbabwe that provides information on the progress that has so far been made.

According to the Global Nutrition Report 2019, Zimbabwe has made progress in meeting its 2013 commitments, but there were challenges in assessing this progress due to language which was not clear and specific, and also the tracking systems and capacity to track this progress was poor.

Zimbabwe Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA) projects officer Kudzai Chavhunduka told The Herald that as an alliance, they were concerned that there was no substantial report to provide information on the progress that has so far been made on nutrition issues in the country.

“It is against this background that we as the civil society are calling on the Government to seize this perfect opportunity presented by Japan Nutrition for Growth 2020 Summit to make commitments which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) and rejuvenate the fight against malnutrition,” she said.

“The year 2020 presents a perfect opportunity for our Government to renew its commitment towards the fight against malnutrition in all its forms.”

In December this year, governments of several nations with support from the Government of Japan will convene and take stock of previous N4G commitments. The same platform will be used to renew and make new commitments towards improving the nutrition status of citizens.

The Tokyo N4G Summit provides a historic opportunity to transform the way the world tackles malnutrition.

The summit signals the beginning of a new race towards a healthier, better-nourished future, a race to end malnutrition in all its forms in all countries, and Zimbabwe cannot be left out.

This comes at a critical time, with only five years to achieve the World Health Assembly targets on Maternal, Infant and Young Child nutrition and 10 years to reach the SDGs.

The commitments to be made at the summit will focus on the following core areas — health, food, resilience, promoting data-driven accountability, securing new investment and driving innovation in nutrition.

The summit is an unprecedented opportunity to set the world on a pathway towards achieving the SDG targets — in particular, to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 and strengthen the link between diet, food systems and health.

Its timing is key, with five years to achieve the 2025 World Health Assembly targets, and 10 years to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

At N4G 2020, the Government of Japan aims to work with partners to galvanise commitments from governments, civil society, private sector, donor agencies and the UN to end malnutrition in all its forms.
It is, therefore, prudent for the country to start formulating SMART commitments which are in line with the summit’s core areas namely health, food, resilience, promoting data-driven accountability, securing new investment and driving innovation in nutrition.

Additionally, according to ZCSOSUNA, Government should continue committing national efforts in mobilising resources for successful and sustainable implementation of nutrition programmes.

Going forward, Government interventions should increase domestic resource allocations for nutrition-sensitive as well as nutrition-specific interventions.

There is need for a real-time monitoring system and data for evidence-based decision-making and progress tracking.

The country should also ensure that the multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder policy implementation structures remain active and are accountable for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition response.

Investing in ending malnutrition is one of the most cost-effective steps the country can make in order to grow the economy.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 goals represent an unprecedented set of opportunities to make stronger commitments to nutrition.

The ambition to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”is captured in SDG 2.

In addition, at least 12 of the 17 Goals contain indicators that are highly relevant to nutrition.
The SDGs commit all governments, including Zimbabwe to comprehensive, integrated and universal transformations, including ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030.

It remains, nonetheless, encouraging to note that Zimbabwe is one of the 60 countries that are leading a global movement to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2025.