According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Angola, the Japanese Government's support will serve to strengthen the provision of services to prevent and treat malnutrition in the municipality of Lubango, capital of Huíla, where several cases of severe acute malnutrition occur. .
Unicef and the Japanese Embassy in Angola say in a statement that the funds will also be used to purchase around 2,400 boxes of ready-to-use therapeutic foods, 600 boxes of therapeutic milk and 100 packages of tapes for measuring the gill perimeter of children.
"It is urgent that we respond to the situation of malnutrition because each day of delay in treating a child has a negative impact on their life and increases the risk of their not surviving", says the UNICEF representative in Angola, Ivan Yerovi, quoted in the statement.
"The nutrition activities funded by the Government of Japan, and included in this intervention, will support the strengthening of the health system and the empowerment of women to recognize the signs of malnutrition and act quickly in order to save malnourished children", it refers in the note.
In addition to Huíla, Unicef works in another six provinces of Angola where it "supports programs to combat malnutrition with activities to strengthen the capacities of health technicians, provide nutritional supplements, strengthen supervision and monitoring as well as follow up on cases of malnutrition in the community".
Huíla is one of the southern provinces affected by drought and famine as a result of climate change, which also covers the provinces of Cunene and Namibe.
