The Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy says Malawi should introduce safe and affordable nutritious foods that can be produced and accessed by local people.
Professor of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at London School Suneetha Kadiyala made the statement during a press briefing ahead of Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academic Week which started in Lilongwe on Monday and will end Friday.
The Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy is a global community of interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners and policymakers working on agriculture and food system for improved nutrition and health, with over 8,000 members in 145+ countries.
Speaking with reporters, Kadiyala said that stunting growth remains a challenge due to the issue of nutrition as such sharing ideas can assist to curb the same .
“There is a need to reduce demand for unhealthy foods and increase demand for nutritious foods by doing so we can address the issue of stunting growth among children,” she explained.
On his part, Director of Nutrition in the Ministry of Health Dr Felix Pensulo Phiri said nutrition, agriculture and health are areas that define wellbeing of an individual.
In terms of nutrition, Phiri said that the country is doing well and has been moving in that way since 2010 which shows that there have been a lot of progress.
“In 2010 we were at 47 percent. In 2016 we reduced to 37 percent which was quite significant. Similary, if you look at Vitamin A deficiency, we reduced from 22 percent in 2010 to 3.6 percent in 2016.
“So in general we can say that our indicators have been quiet promising,” he said
He, however, said the coming in of Cholera outbreak and Cyclone affected among other factors affected delivery of nutrition services in the country and the countries that were supporting the country are supporting the war at Ukraine.
The ANH Academy is a co-funded with UK Aid from the UK government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and is led by the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine in partnership with Tufts University and other organizations from around the world.
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