More than 35% of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition in Sofala province, central Mozambique, the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries has said.
As reported by Lusa, Maria Proença, the provincial director of Agriculture and Fisheries for that province, who was speaking in the city of Beira during a ceremony to mark World Food Day, said that ‘the province has 35.9 per cent chronic malnutrition among children aged zero to five and the effects are various and serious’.
According to the official, the situation has worsened with the impact of climate change in the region, which has affected agricultural production. ‘The intellectual and physical sequelae caused by this problem are irreversible after the age of 2, so let’s all guarantee quality of life for our families,’ she emphasised.
Maria Proença argued that food and nutrition security should be a right, recognising the need to disseminate knowledge about nutrition in communities.
According to figures published in June by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least 3,175 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Beira have recovered from this condition in the last four years.
Recently, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that Mozambique is facing a severe food crisis due to the prolonged drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, affecting millions of people in the country and in southern Africa, warning of the seriousness of the situation, especially in rural areas, where malnutrition and hunger are reaching alarming levels.
