CSO-SUN on Board to supplement Government’s efforts in reaching out to families affected by hunger

The Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance is happy that the Department for International Development has come on Board to supplement Government’s efforts in reaching out to families affected by hunger in the country.

The CSO-SUN Country Coordinator Mathews Mhuru says these efforts are commendable and should compel other cooperating partners to come on Board and help save people’s lives even without the declaration of hunger as a national disaster by the government.

Mr Mhuru said government alone does not have the capacity to deal with the issue in a nutrition-sensitive manner and reach out to all the over 2.5 million people in 58 districts affected by hunger across the country.

And Mr Mhuru is happy that Private sector partners such as Promasido have also shown commitment to donate food to pregnant women and children under the age of five in Gwembe District who are more vulnerable to chronic malnutrition.

Mr Mhuru said “if this is fulfilled it will help promote the nutrition status of nutritionally vulnerable populations and everyone with capacity should come on board and save lives.

Meanwhile, Mr Mhuru has urged the Cooperating Partners who have shown willingness to support the vulnerable families to work closely with the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit in reaching out to the needy families.

He said the DMMU better understands the hunger situation on the ground and working with them will ensure that mobilised resources are efficiently and effectively used and avoid the duplication of efforts.

Mr Mhuru regretted that the hunger situation is being politicised at the expense of those that are in need of food especially in rural areas and has since urged Politicians to desist from politicising the hunger situation.

And Mr. Mhuru has urged government to consider creating relief food reserves in areas that are likely to be cut off during the rainy season such as Lunga District to avoid accessibility challenges in the distribution of relief food.

He has warned that failure to plan adequately will see Zambians dying of hunger and malnutrition due to increased food insecurity as government will be unable to reach the affected areas.