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Fungai Lupande Mashonaland Central Bureau
Government, through the Food and Nutrition Council, has moved to address malnutrition in communities and households by setting up food and nutrition committees in each of Mashonaland Central Province’s eight districts and all wards.

The Food and Nutrition Council of Zimbabwe’s advocacy and communications officer, Mr Lloyd Chadzingwa, said the national malnutrition level was high, with a study showing that stunting was at 26,7 percent.

With a first target of cutting the stunting rate to below 20 percent, the council has adopted community-based models and established a functional food and nutrition committees in Mashonaland Province.

These aim to have more food farmed, better diets and provide relief for the most vulnerable households.
Th committee brings together the ministries of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement; Health and Child Care; Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and stakeholders involved in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

The ministries and partners form multi-sectoral committees that are cascaded to district and ward level to address food and nutrition needs per household.

Said Mr Chadzingwa: “As the Government fights to reduce stunting, we have engaged communities to identity the problem and use locally available resources for sustainability.

“Functions of the multi-sectoral committees are to coordinate food and nutrition security issues at local level, and identify the food gaps and propose solutions from a multi-sectoral point of view.

“The greatest milestone is that we have managed to factor community participation at all levels, with the community owning the programme.”

Mr Chadzingwa said similar to HIV and AIDS, the fight against malnutrition was not a Ministry of Health and Child Care issue alone, but required all stakeholders to come together and solve the problem. The target is to boost agriculture production and ensure people eat a balanced diet at household level.

Since the establishment of multi-sectoral committees in 2014, there has been positive impact at household level and community health-seeking behaviour has improved.

“It is the community that knows what is affecting them and they can easily identify solutions. They might not have the resources to rectify the problem but their participation is central in any intervention,” said Mr Chadzingwa.

“We are making sure that each and very stakeholder identifies a role they can play in addressing food and nutrition challenges.”
The council has come up with a model village with basics like sanitation and hygiene, and an environment conducive for children to grow.

A nutrition garden has been established in Chiweshe at Mabvurambudzi Village, Ward 8, to enable the community to grow different types of crops so that families get a balanced diet.

This provides an example that others can follow. Surplus from the garden will be sold to provide an income for other needs.