PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Zambia: 'Zambia’s malnutrition levels embarrassing', says opposition
Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – Zambia's opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has noted with concern the UN 2013 Hunger Report released last week, indicating that undernourishment prevalence in the country is second only to Haiti in the world and first in Africa.
“This an embarrassing and humiliating report for a peaceful country that has enjoyed a steady economic growth of over 6 percent per annum in the last few years,” UPND vice president Canisius Banda said here Wednesday.
According to Banda, the joint report by three UN agencies -- the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) -- used data obtained from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey.
However, subsequent surveys by the National Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia (NFNC) and a recent UNICEF report were consistent with the 2013 Hunger Report.
Banda took a swipe at government for failing to respond to the findings in the UN report, charging that the most likely explanation, for the silence from the Patriotic Front (PF) government, is that they do not understand implications of the report and, therefore, have no solution to the problem of undernourishment.
“It also demonstrates further the far-reaching negative implications of the removal of subsidies on maize and fuel and their effect on the quality of life of our people. A consequence we warned of but which PF in their usual arrogance consistently ignored,” he said.
Observing that close to 50 percent of or one million children under five in Zambia are stunted, he said that stunting as a major consequence of undernourishment, leads to premature death.
Banda proposed that government re-introduces food subsidies for the more that 60 percent poor Zambians, who are now forced to spend 70 percent of their meagre income on food, that is not even adequate to meet their dietary requirements.
“The removal of subsidies on the staple food by the PF government was not only highly irresponsible but negligent of poor peoples’ needs. PF removed subsidies and then chooses to introduce a social cash transfer system that is badly targeted and cannot sustain any human being,” he charged.
Findings and recommendation of the 2013 UN Hunger Report will be discussed by governments, civil society and private sector representatives at the 7-11 October meeting of the Committee on Food Security at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
-0- PANA MM/AR 24Sept2014
“This an embarrassing and humiliating report for a peaceful country that has enjoyed a steady economic growth of over 6 percent per annum in the last few years,” UPND vice president Canisius Banda said here Wednesday.
According to Banda, the joint report by three UN agencies -- the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) -- used data obtained from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey.
However, subsequent surveys by the National Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia (NFNC) and a recent UNICEF report were consistent with the 2013 Hunger Report.
Banda took a swipe at government for failing to respond to the findings in the UN report, charging that the most likely explanation, for the silence from the Patriotic Front (PF) government, is that they do not understand implications of the report and, therefore, have no solution to the problem of undernourishment.
“It also demonstrates further the far-reaching negative implications of the removal of subsidies on maize and fuel and their effect on the quality of life of our people. A consequence we warned of but which PF in their usual arrogance consistently ignored,” he said.
Observing that close to 50 percent of or one million children under five in Zambia are stunted, he said that stunting as a major consequence of undernourishment, leads to premature death.
Banda proposed that government re-introduces food subsidies for the more that 60 percent poor Zambians, who are now forced to spend 70 percent of their meagre income on food, that is not even adequate to meet their dietary requirements.
“The removal of subsidies on the staple food by the PF government was not only highly irresponsible but negligent of poor peoples’ needs. PF removed subsidies and then chooses to introduce a social cash transfer system that is badly targeted and cannot sustain any human being,” he charged.
Findings and recommendation of the 2013 UN Hunger Report will be discussed by governments, civil society and private sector representatives at the 7-11 October meeting of the Committee on Food Security at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
-0- PANA MM/AR 24Sept2014
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