Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Mat South Bureau Chief
MATABELELAND South Province has the best child nutrition practices in the country, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) 2021 Rural Livelihoods Assessment Report.
The report indicated that more children in the province received the minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency, which is essential to ensure appropriate growth and development of children aged six to 23 months.
A minimum acceptable diet is an indicator, which combines information on children that receive the minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency.
The report says 37 percent of children in Matabeleland South province received the minimum meal frequency, while 26 percent of children in Matabeleland North province, 20 percent in the Midlands province and 11 percent in Masvingo province received the minimum meal frequency.
Nationally, the proportion of children that received the recommended dose of Vitamin A in the past 12 months was 84 percent for those aged between six and 11 months, 50 percent for children aged 12 to 59 months and 53 percent for children aged six to 59 months.
According to the report, only Matabeleland South (91 percent) surpassed the recommended target of 90 percent for children aged six to 11 months that received Vitamin A supplementation.
“As children got older, they were less likely to receive their Vitamin A supplements and more effort should be put towards the 12 to 59 months age group,” says the report.
Although Zimbabwe has relatively low infant mortality rates, it still has high child malnutrition rates.
Several factors, including sex roles and relations between the sexes, access to resources, food costs and availability, time and energy costs of food production and preparation, illness, beliefs and practices, especially those concerning diarrhoea and malnutrition are possible determinants of feeding practices, nutritional and health status.
Gwanda acting district development co-ordinator, Mr Thulani Moyo said the availability of nutrition gardens across all wards in the district had improved nutrition among children.
“The resuscitation of nutrition gardens around our wards has contributed to food security and better nutrition among children in the district.
Most of our wards have nutrition gardens.
Our health structures also cascade down to villages where village health workers monitor child growth and promote best health practices,” said Mr Moyo.
According to the ZimVac report, the combination of climate related shocks and the Covid-19 pandemic (including impact of the lockdown) continue to negatively affect rural livelihoods, thereby potentially reducing disposable income available to the households for food and nutrition security.
Interventions which strengthen households’ economy and resilience are highly recommended to ensure households remain food and nutrition secure.
The report noted that the prevalence of food insecurity reduced from 56 percent last year to 27 percent this year.
This reflects the Government’s ability to reduce the problem by over 50 percent compared to the previous season, hence the right step towards achieving one of the country’s goals in the NDS1, particularly of ensuring a food surplus economy.
“Zimbabwe’s climate variability, extreme droughts and Covid-19 are among the key drivers behind cereal insecurity.
During the peak hunger period (January to March 2022) it is estimated that approximately 27 percent of the rural households will be cereal insecure.
The 27 percent of rural households will translate into approximately 2 942 897 individuals requiring 262 856 MT of cereal (Maize Grain),” reads the report. — @Yolisswa
Online Reporter