The information was advanced by the nutrition specialist and responsible for the coordination of UNICEF malnutrition programs in Angola, Fanceni Balde, when commenting on the high levels of hunger in children in the country.
Last week, a report by the National Directorate of Public Health, quoted by the weekly Novo Jornal, indicated that 8413 children died of malnutrition, in more than 66,000 who were admitted to public hospitals in the country in the first half of this year.
Fanceni Balde said that Unicef is supporting the training of health technicians and community agents to safely screen and refer malnourished children, also advising the community involvement of families to use locally available food, with a view to improving quality. and ensure that they become more resilient and resistant to disease and the pandemic itself.
Unicef also had to readjust its actions to support the Government in responding to the negative effects of covid-19 on the most vulnerable populations that may contract the virus.
According to the specialist, the most malnourished populations and those with food deprivation are likely to have less favorable results than well-fed populations and less vulnerable if they contract covid-19.
“Lately, in fact, in relation to the economic crisis, we have considered that the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic, associated with all the restrictions on population movement and social distancing, has had a significant impact in terms of the socio-economic situation , in itself already fragile, including the increase in the rate of food insecurity and malnutrition, especially in the most vulnerable populations and those that had already suffered the effects of drought last year ”, he said.
According to Fanceni Balde, in times of emergency “it is very important” to ensure that basic social services, such as adequate health and nutrition, can be provided continuously and safely to the most vulnerable populations in order to “mitigate the impact of the social economic shock in your life".
The specialist added that Unicef has been working very closely with the Ministry of Health, the provincial health offices and project implementation partners to reduce the high rates of malnutrition in the country.
Support has been towards implementing low cost and high impact integrated and multisectoral packages, with associated interventions for health, nutrition, water and sanitation and social protection, with a view to improving the living conditions of pregnant women, babies and children until the first five years of life.
“This approach allows us to implement what has been advised to Member States, which is the first thousand days approach, which is considered a window of opportunity for us to be able, in fact, to ensure that children in the first two years of life they have everything necessary to be able to develop their potential for the future life ”, he said.
The official specified that the organization has been engaging community agents to raise mothers' awareness of maternal, newborn and infant feeding practices.
"We have also been providing nutritional supplements for the treatment of malnutrition, but also to combat the lack of micronutrients, so we give vitamin A capsules, multiple micronutrients to be able to support supplementation of pregnant women and young children", he guaranteed.
Locally based organizations have also been involved in these projects, “to teach mothers, through community kitchens and community gardens, to diversify food at the family level and also to better integrate the concepts of preventing and combating malnutrition, through diversification of agricultural production ”.
Malnutrition in Angola, said Fanceni Balde, is more prevalent in childhood and tends to accompany the problem of poverty, as well as living conditions related to the hygiene of the environment, sanitation, the education of women and mothers and the quality of care in health.
“Based on our experience on the ground, we believe that malnutrition in Angola has causes of multifactorial and multisectoral origin, so the fight must be with the involvement of various sectors, to mitigate social asymmetries and ensure equitable and balanced access to food in quantity and quality ”, he stressed.
