…raises concerns over rising malnutrition among children
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Nigeria Health Watch, a not-for-profit health advocacy organisation, said on Monday, that it has concluded plans to convene stakeholders from the public sector, civil society organisations, and the private sector to present issues affecting Nigerians’ public health with focus on nutrition.
The organization, in a statement, explained that 2023 nutrition policy dialogue will focus on potential solutions and opportunities for progress, and also chart actionable recommendations for policy actions.
It added that the nutrition policy dialogue with the theme, “strengthening nutrition outcomes in the face of climate change,” will also highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral collaboration to strengthen and increase understanding of the linkages between climate change, food security and nutrition, and improved policies and practices for nutrition security.
It, however, raised concerns that achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), 2, zero hunger, and SDG 3, good health and well-being; by 2030 was being challenged by hunger and poor nutrition because unhealthy and adequately nourished population.
It made reference to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, which stated that a person is food insecure when such person lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active, healthy life.
“Unfortunately, the leading causes of food insecurity include climatic extremes such as drought, poverty, and conflict. However, research has shown that climate change has the potential to derail the achievement of a world without hunger and malnutrition because food production has a significant dependency on climatic variables such as rainfall, temperature, and relative humidity, amongst others.
As a result of this, it insisted that countries must deploy mechanisms to ensure resilient food production systems that will translate to better nutrition for the populace.
