The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund has said that millions of children are suffering from malnutrition in Zimbabwe.
Unicef’s recent report titled Children, Food and Nutrition suggests that only four in 100 children in the country are fed according to the minimum recommended diet.
Malnutrition is attributed to drought and the deteriorating economic situation which has seen many families failing to get decent meals every day. The situation is hard especially for breastfeeding mothers who need food in order to provide adequate milk for their babies.
The government has also acknowledged the prevalence of malnutrition in the country saying efforts were underway to address the issue. Representing Health and Child Care minister at the launch of the State of the World Children’s report recently, nutrition intervention manager Ruth Machaka said:
Despite all these efforts (taken by government), it is still a major concern that our children are still malnourished hence the need to shift our strategies to address the problem of malnutrition using a system-based approach as this is no longer the ministry of health and childcare’s baby alone.
The government is in the process of importing grain as it projects severe starvation until the next harvest in 2020.
More: Daily News
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