GITEGA November 15th (ABP) – The permanent executive secretary of the Multisectoral Food and Nutrition Security Platform, Dr. Célestin Sibomana, on Thursday called on the administrative authorities and the heads of provincial and communal technical services to strengthen the coordination of their interventions so that their actions complement each other and converge towards improving the food and nutritional security of the people.
That appeal was launched at the end of the work of the day of mobilization of administrative and technical officials of Gitega province (central Burundi) on the establishment of provincial and communal food security and nutrition platforms organized Thursday in Gitega. He stressed that nutritional problems are multifactorial and thus require an integrated multisectoral, multidimensional response at all levels. He then said that he hopes that the provincial and municipal food and nutrition security platforms will strengthen local governance and will coordinate all actions so that stakeholders converge their actions towards more adequate solutions to nutritional problems.
As for the state of acute malnutrition in Burundi according to the results of the survey conducted in 2020, Dr. Fidèle Nkezabahizi revealed that the rate of moderate acute malnutrition is 5% while severe malnutrition is at 1%. Those results show a gradual improvement in nutritional indicators in most provinces including Gitega, but efforts are still needed to achieve more effective results.
Among the priority actions to be carried out in that multisectoral dynamic, Dr. Sibomana notably indicated the increase in the availability, access and use of foods with high nutritional value, the strengthening of access and use quality health and nutrition care and services, the promotion of nutritional practices, basic hygiene and sanitation, civil protection intervention in the event of emergencies and disasters. He also underlined the need for effective coordination of partners’ interventions so that their actions support the efforts of public services to provide appropriate responses to food security and nutrition problems. He underlined the capital role of strengthening the synergy of actions of the different actors and the effective coordination of their interventions to provide appropriate responses to food and nutritional security.