Bangladesh’s nutrition activists raised their voice on Saturday to press for ‘multi-sectoral’ efforts to purge widespread malnutrition.
They made the call forming a long human chain in the capital Dhaka ahead of the scaling up nutrition (SUN) movement’s gathering in New York on Monday and Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is one of the 27 members of the UN’s SUN movement lead group, is expected to attend the gathering.
Shamim Hayder Talukder, Chief Executive Officer of a non-government organisation, Eminence that organised the human chain, urged all political parties to keep nutrition in their agenda and also take concerted effort of all.
He said their human chain would encourage the Prime Minister to declare war against malnutrition in the New York gathering.
At least 41 percent Bangladeshi kids under-five are too small for their height while 16 percent are wasted and 36 percent underweight.
But activists say multi-sectoral approach which was needed to break the vicious cycle was absent.
Research indicates that people across the sectors including agriculture and livestock, water and sanitation, education, and employment needed to combat malnutrition.
British medical journal The Lancet also suggests continued investments in nutrition-specific measures like promotion of breastfeeding, micronutrient supplements, along with nutrition-sensitive approaches like women’s empowerment, agriculture, food systems, education, and employment, to curb malnutrition. – bdnews24.com
