German Ambassador for improved nutrition

By Isaac Salima:

New German Ambassador to Malawi Ralph Timmermann has pledged continued support towards improving nutritional standards among rural communities in the country.

Timmermann made the remarks in Phalombe District after inspecting some projects that his government is supporting through KFW Investment Funding. The project are being implemented by Hunger Project Malawi.

“This is my first field visit and I am impressed that there has been a success story in terms of infant health, better nutrition and sanitation. What I like is that the communities are actively involved in the project and our government will keep on pumping more resources so that we can achieve desired goals,” Timmermann said.

Director of Nutrition, HIV and Aids in the Ministry of Health Pesulo Phiri said it is pleasing that such interventions continue registering positive impact in the country.

“The major problem that we currently have is stunting but we are also happy that we have managed to reduce it to around 33 percent. We are also pleased to say that Malawi is one of the countries in Africa that have reduced vitamin A deficiency to around three percent. So this is all possible through support from different organisations such as Hunger Project,” Phiri said.

Hunger Project Country Manager Grace Chikowi was hopeful that the project will continue registering success in the remaining two years.

“This is a five-year project and we are happy that for the past three years, there have been positive strides, and we are hopeful that by 2023, when the project will be phasing out, we would have eradicated malnutrition in the district,” Chikowi said.

The project, which is implemented in Phalombe and Nsanje districts, involves the promotion of livestock production through Pass-On programmes where each household is given five goats. The project is promoting food security, food utilisation and food processing.