In its quest to supplement Government’s efforts in mitigating the effects of hunger in the country, the Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance in partnership with Miracle Life Church has delivered food hampers to some hunger-stricken families in Gwembe District.
The food hampers worth K300 000 delivered mid November 2019 comprised a 25 kg bag of mealie meal, 5kgs beans, 5kgs Kapenta and 2kgs sugar taking into consideration the nutritional needs of the beneficiaries.
A total of 5000 people selected with the help the Traditional Leadership, the District Administration and Health Authorities have benefitted from the support which is expected to extend to other parts of the country among them Shangombo and Lunga Districts.
Those who benefitted include families with children under the age of two years who are the most vulnerable to chronic malnutrition, people living with HIV, adolescent girls, women of reproductive age and people the community felt were desperately in need of food.
In its assessment of the hunger situation in Gwembe District, the CSO-SUN discovered that the nutrition status of the District was deteriorating due to lack access to nutritious foods resulting into cases of underweight adults and children increasing.
From statistics seen during the Child Health week exercise in November 2019, cases of underweight among Children in the District had increased from 0.8 percent from second quarter of 2019 to 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
According to the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference measurement (MUAC) used to assess the Nutritional status of Children, it was discovered that 75 percent of all the children assessed were in need of supplementary feeding immediately failure to which they would face severe acute malnutrition.
CSO SUN Country Coordinator Mathews Mhuru has since commended Miracle Life Church for partnering with the organization to support the 5000 people in need of food in Gwembe District.
Mr Mhuru said the provision of food to the over 2.3 million people affected by hunger cannot be left to government alone as it is a huge task.
He has further appealed to the government through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to prioritize relief distribution to areas like Chamwe which have no food markets.
Mr Mhuru said in Chamwe it was discovered that people were washing off chemicals from seeds received under FISP and eating them due to lack of food.
He said it was also reported in Chaamwe that a person living with HIV died due to hunger which resulted from lack of food.
We were categorically told that there’s no famine in Zambia!