ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire – Zimbabwe is on course to meet three of the main global nutrition targets covering maternal, infant and young child nutrition, Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Constantino Chiwenga has said.
He made the remarks here yesterday in a speech read on his behalf by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka who is representing him at the High-Level Meeting on the Theme of the African Year of Nutrition 2022.
The three targets have been identified by international development agencies and Governments as priority areas in the battle against malnutrition and in the programme to move from eating enough to eating well.
Their identification has also found credence in Zimbabwe’s individual thrust as it forges ahead with it’s national plan to eradicate poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
National agricultural strategies, said Minister Masuka on behalf of VP Chiwenga, have been reconfigured to nutrition sensitiveness.
“I am pleased to share with you that the Global Nutrition Report for 2021 highlights the tremendous progress that we have made as a country,” said VP Chiwenga through Minister Masuka.
“Zimbabwe is on course to meet three of the global nutrition targets covering maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN). We remain resolute in implementing multi-dimensional and multi-pronged strategies towards reduction of stunting in Zimbabwe.
“We continue to advocate an Increase in public health expenditure per capita from US$30,29 in 2020 to US$86 by 2025.
“Our 2023 Budget allocation bears testimony to this as we have seen increased resource allocation towards public health expenditure,” he said.
The meeting was officially opened by Vice President of Cote d’Ivoire Tiémoko Meyliet Koné who called for the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to effectively and collectively confront nutrition challenges.
African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development Dr Beth Dunford said malnutrition is a major obstacle to human development.
The bank was committed to increasing nutrition support investment, and had already started supporting member states in this frontier.
African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat spoke on the importance of opening borders to continental peers for the free circulation of goods to effectively fight hunger as a continent.
This would be achieved by the AfCFTA which seeks to eliminate tariffs on intra-Africa trade, making it easier for African businesses to trade within the continent and benefit from the growing African market.
King Letsie III of Lesotho called for the continental peers to redouble efforts to end hunger and malnutrition. – The Herald
