The Zambia Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance says the delay in the review process of the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) Act of 1967 is worrying.
CSO-SUN Alliance Head of Communications and Advocacy Eneyah Phiri Government seem to have stalled the process after showing political will and enthusiasm during the inception phase.
Mr Phiri said the ground work has been done and stakeholders were consulted and a bill was submitted to the Ministry of Health for consideration and further submission to Cabinet office before being sent to Parliament for deliberations.
“It is therefore surprising that the Government seems to have grown cold feet, stalling the entire process. We are aware that the bill is sitting in the Minister’s office. This is in stark contrast to the spirit with which the process was commenced,” Mr Phiri said.
“We urge the Government to emulate its earlier conviction to deliver a revised NFNC Act in a timely manner. We are already beyond the timeframe that was agreed upon as the bill should be in parliament now for deliberations.”
He said the NFNC Act of 1967 in its current form does not support the attainment of optimal nutrition status for all in Zambia adding that it has never been repealed since its adoption in 1967 and therefore does not reflect the current socio-economic status of the Country.
“Furthermore, the Act does not grant the NFNC adequate authority to convene and coordinate among the different actors who need to work together to ensure adequate progress in tackling malnutrition.”
He said due to its multi-faceted nature, combating malnutrition requires coordinated action from multiple sectors of Government.
“Currently, the responsibility for coordinating efforts to tackle malnutrition in Zambia is assigned to NFNC which is an organ of the Ministry of Health. However, despite its efforts, NFNC has limited powers and capacities to perform its mandate as it has no solid legal framework to support it. It is for this reason that the delay in completing the review process does more harm than good.”
He observed that the 1000 days programme is gaining traction now as the country heads towards the implementation phase.
Mr Phiri warned that Government risks undoing its own work if there is no strong coordination among Nutrition actors.
“Sadly, we note that it is becoming typical of the Government not to follow through on its commitments especially in the Nutrition sector. In June 2013 at the Nutrition for Growth summit, Government made a commitment to strengthen the governance and coordination mechanisms of the nutrition sector. One way in which it committed to do this was by reinforcing the functioning and accountability of the NFNC to adequately coordinate across the key sectors.
Delaying the review of the Act is a direct failure to fulfil this commitment.”
He continued, “Hence, CSO-SUN urges the Government to shed the poor finishing tag that has characterised many of its programmes by finishing what it started and timely enacting the bill into law.”
Pilato, General Kanene and Iris kaingu, ma comments mbwelekete. A sensible topic like nutrition, zero comments. And you wonder why a simple problem like ZESCO load shedding fails to attract a practical solution. Its because as a country we fail to prioritise issues. You mean there is no one at the MoH, NFNC and all these NGOs pretending to promote nutrition who can engage CSO-SUN on this online article whilst they are busy commenting on useless online stories? How can a country still operate on a 1967 act when the technical aspects of nutrition and the governance issues that go with it have been dynamic?