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تصویر بندانگشتی

Abdulllah Raises Concern Over Food Insecurity, Malnutrition

National Unity Government (NUG) Chief Executive Abdullah Abdulllah said on Monday at a ceremony for the Afghanistan Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSeN) in Kabul that at the moment thirty-three percent of the population faces food insecurity and six hundred thousand children suffer from acute malnutrition.

Abdulllah said solutions to these problems need to be found. 

Abdullah said that providing all Afghans access to adequate food and promoting better diet for women and children is one of the biggest goals of the Agenda.

“We had policies, we had methods, we worked on different strategies at different times, but the need for their coherence was felt and understood. Hence, our responsibility to ensure the safety of food was linked to various ministries and institutions. We came to the conclusion that we (need to) establish the National Food and Nutrition Agenda (AFSeN),” said Abdullah.

“From the time of birth to the age of two, is the the most important time for us to reach a child's life ... if nutrition is right from conception till the age of two, diseases are eliminated among children,” said Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz.

 “This is essential so as to make sure malnutrition becomes something of the past for all women, men and their families and I am confident that by bringing the different sectors at government level and different departments together and making them work together you will create, reproduce very good results in putting in place a range of policies and programs to improve nutrition,” said Gerda Verburg, United Nations assistant secretary general and coordinator of the scaling up nutrition (SUN) movement.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said there is the need for more investment in the agricultural sector in the country in order to combat malnutrition and poverty. 

“Food insecurity in Afghanistan is increasing, statistics show that the lack of food safety in 2011 and 2012 was more than 30 percent but this figure has risen to 33 percent in the year 2014,” said Nasir Ahmad Durani acting minister of agriculture, irrigation and livestock.

At the end of the meeting, government agencies and representatives from countries and organizations that have backed AFSeN  committed to engaging in these initiatives.

“I preach on behalf of Afghanistan, on behalf of FAO, support commitment of my organization to promote Afghanistan food security and nutrition agenda,” said Tomio Shichiri, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Afghanistan. 

Lack of food safety is a major dilemma in the country and based on recent surveys, currently, 33 percent of the country's citizens are vulnerable to food insecurity, of which most of them are women and children. 

Abdulllah Raises Concern Over Food Insecurity, Malnutrition

Marking World Food Day on Monday the  Afghan government announced the new National Food and Nutrition Agenda. 

تصویر بندانگشتی

National Unity Government (NUG) Chief Executive Abdullah Abdulllah said on Monday at a ceremony for the Afghanistan Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSeN) in Kabul that at the moment thirty-three percent of the population faces food insecurity and six hundred thousand children suffer from acute malnutrition.

Abdulllah said solutions to these problems need to be found. 

Abdullah said that providing all Afghans access to adequate food and promoting better diet for women and children is one of the biggest goals of the Agenda.

“We had policies, we had methods, we worked on different strategies at different times, but the need for their coherence was felt and understood. Hence, our responsibility to ensure the safety of food was linked to various ministries and institutions. We came to the conclusion that we (need to) establish the National Food and Nutrition Agenda (AFSeN),” said Abdullah.

“From the time of birth to the age of two, is the the most important time for us to reach a child's life ... if nutrition is right from conception till the age of two, diseases are eliminated among children,” said Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz.

 “This is essential so as to make sure malnutrition becomes something of the past for all women, men and their families and I am confident that by bringing the different sectors at government level and different departments together and making them work together you will create, reproduce very good results in putting in place a range of policies and programs to improve nutrition,” said Gerda Verburg, United Nations assistant secretary general and coordinator of the scaling up nutrition (SUN) movement.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said there is the need for more investment in the agricultural sector in the country in order to combat malnutrition and poverty. 

“Food insecurity in Afghanistan is increasing, statistics show that the lack of food safety in 2011 and 2012 was more than 30 percent but this figure has risen to 33 percent in the year 2014,” said Nasir Ahmad Durani acting minister of agriculture, irrigation and livestock.

At the end of the meeting, government agencies and representatives from countries and organizations that have backed AFSeN  committed to engaging in these initiatives.

“I preach on behalf of Afghanistan, on behalf of FAO, support commitment of my organization to promote Afghanistan food security and nutrition agenda,” said Tomio Shichiri, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Afghanistan. 

Lack of food safety is a major dilemma in the country and based on recent surveys, currently, 33 percent of the country's citizens are vulnerable to food insecurity, of which most of them are women and children. 

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