Humanitarian Organization, Oxfam Malawi has revealed plans to conduct a cost of hunger Study aimed at understanding how much the country is losing due to malnutrition related challenges.
Steve Kuliyazi, Livelihood resilience Programmes Manager for Oxfam Malawi has told MIJ Online, that the Study is among the key activities in the second phase of Increasing Resource Allocation and Accountability for nutrition sector in Malawi – Project.
Speaking when introducing the Project to Stakeholders in Salima, Kuliyazi said they want to generate information from the family economy to understand how much the country’s economy is losing due to malnutrition.
He said, the plan of the Study, is to have the Authorities also think about nutrition and interventions that can support end malnutrition challenges and not just think of infrastructure projects.
“It is only through demonstrating the costs of malnutrition, the cost of hunger at the household level, at the national level, that leaders can now understand how much the country is losing to malnutrition. So we have observed that we are lacking information and this is why we want to conduct this Study.”
“So once we generate this information, we will use it to sensitize both the households and the communities, but also the Authorities, that includes responsible ministries, members of Parliament and the full councils because they are responsible for making decisions over resources”. Said Kuliyazi.
On his part, Brighton Chunga District Community Development Officer for Salima, welcomed the idea describing the cost of hunger Study as very important to reducing numbers of malnutrition in the country.
“Most of the time, our focus as a country is always on infrastructure development and we forget the software part but for someone to work effectively on an infrastructure, he or she needs to be well nourished. People need to have enough and good food to work effectively and to fully concentrate. So this Study is very important, it is high time the Authorities start to look at malnutrition as a national problem that needs quick attention.” Said Chunga.