June 28, 2019
Vice president of Sierra Leone Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has on 27th June, 2019 assured the public that government was ready and willing to support the multi-sector strategic plan to reduce malnutrition in Sierra Leone.
He made the statement during the launching of the multi-sector implementation plan at the Miatta Conference hall, Brookfield’s in Freetown on Thursday 27th June 2019.
VP Judeh noted that the government was fully aware that under-nutrition in the country was high among the poor, particularly women and children, adding that the human and economic costs associated with under-nutrition were huge.
He noted that the strategic plan would only work if they work together on various fronts that would establish meaningful partnerships to enable them moved from hunger to hope.
“As a government, we are ready and willing to support the strategic plan to reduce malnutrition by supporting the Ministry of Health and sanitation, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with the necessary things they need to help reduce malnutrition in the country,” he assured.
He continued that the outlined strategic plans were expected to significantly reduce under-nutrition if they were delivered through efficient implementation mechanisms that involved good planning and monitoring of results.
He mentioned that the investment in nutrition was vital to achieving the sustainable development goals and that good nutrition is a basic building block for human capital and as such contributes to economic development.
“I want to call on various stakeholders to support the on-going collaborative efforts to build a strategic partnership with the shared vision to end hunger and malnutrition in Sierra Leone and also encourage donor partners to boost agriculture. We have used $400 million USD to import food especially rice, but we would reduce it,” he said.
Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Alpha Wurrie said recently they launched the mid-term national development plan in which they catalogue many goodies for the country.
He said in 2020 the current government would pay 50% of all the free health care cost which would address 50% of the problem to reduce malnutrition in the country.
He said week malnutrition has caused over 400,000 children to be conceded under-malnourish, and stunted growth.
He said breast feeding was critical for new born babies and they must be fed for six months after which they should start thinking about other food.
“I stand as the head of health to implement all plans that is in the strategic plan to reduce malnutrition in the country,” he promised.
United Nation Network Chair, Dr. Hamid El Bashir Ibrahim said the UN believed that good nutrition was a cornerstone to development, adding that good nutrition person’s life cycle has the potential to improved human capital and contribute to the reduction of poverty.
He observed that good growth during the first 1,000 days of a child meant that a child’s brain would develop optimally.
He noted that many children were affected by malnutrition in different forms and that the multiple indicator clusters survey of 2017 states that under-five mortality is at 114 per 1000 live birth.
He said malnutrition was also an underlying cause of morbidity and mortality among the vulnerable women and children in the country, adding that some of the causes of malnutrition are hunger, food insecurity, poor feeding, poverty and poor sanitation were some of the major contributors that affect children.
“I therefore trust that through combined expertise and through the guidance of the multi-sector plan, concrete actions can be taken towards bringing measurable change to the nutrition situation in the country,” he said.
Irish Aid Country Representative, Ambassador Mary O. Neill said the strategic plan to reduce malnutrition in the country would be a good one only if the government fight against it and reduce malnutrition.
He said the government of Ireland would continue to support Sierra Leone with the necessary needs to end malnutrition in the country and that nutrition remains one of the four pillars to end malnutrition.
“The strategic plan to reduce malnutrition in the country is only a plan, but we need to work towards that plan for it to be effective,” she said.