Civil Society Organisations Nutrition Alliance (Csona) acting country coordinator Joseph Gausi has called for enhanced coordination among partners and stakeholders in nutrition and food system programmes to reduce malnutrition and hunger in Mzimba.
He said this on Tuesday in Mzimba when the organisation briefed the District Executive Committee on the progress of its Food Systems Transformation Project running in the district.
Gausi said Mzimba was not doing enough to eradicate malnutrition and hunger because statistics show that cases of stunting are at 36.9 percent against the national prevalence rate of 38 percent, according to the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey of 2024.
He said: “We have noted that there are still gaps in terms of coordination of players at the district level in the food systems supply chain from production, transportation, processing and consumption.
“This is the reason we are calling upon partners and stakeholders to enhance collaboration in nutrition and agriculture production to promote healthy diets.”
Gausi expressed satisfaction with the project’s progress, saying
it is helping in intensifying coordination and capacity building of district players in food systems and nutrition health.
On his part, M’Mbelwa District Council nutrition officer Gift Simukonda admitted that there was need to intensify interventions towards nutrition and food systems.
He said the project was helping the council to promote diversified diets among communities.
“Much as we have registered a decline in stunting levels from 38 percent to 36 percent, it is not enough as the figure is still high,” said Simukonda.
The organisation is implementing the Food Systems Transformation project to promote coordination among key stakeholders in Mzimba, Chikwawa and Dedza district in partnership with GIZ and the Mwapata Institute of Malawi.
