Parliament must pass food and nutrition bill-CSO’s
A consortium of Civil Society Organizations CSO’s says parliament must pass food and nutrition bill this seventh meeting on national assembly
The bill which guarantees the right to adequate food and nutrition has been under deliberations since 2003
The organizations which include centre for environmental policy and advocacy CEPA as well as civil society organization on nutrition alliance Malawi have said this as the 49th session of parliament will be held from 14th November to 16th December
“A legislation on right to food and nutrition would be a key legal instrument that would help address some of the challenges the country is facing in as far as food and nutrition is concerned,” CSO’s
Therefore the consortium has committed to provide necessary support to relevant ministries and parliament to facilitate the tabling and passing of the bill.
Government through Ministry of health allocated 190 million kwacha for nutrition budget line at district level
According to the organizations 2021 statistics show that stunting is at 36 percent and the country has poor infant as well as young child feeding practices with only 8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months
The consortium says although Malawi has yielded positive gains over the years from nutrition programming by reducing stunting rate from 47 percent in 2010 to 37 percent in 2016, slow progress has been registered towards 2025 target.
During the 2021 Tokyo nutrition for growth summit minister of health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda assured delegates that the bill was ready and will be passed by December 2022.
