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| Gweru-based journalist Locardia Mavhudzi |
Tinaani
Nyabereka
GWERU – The
Zimbabwe Civic Society Organisations Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (ZCSOSUNA) says
the coronavirus-induced lockdown movement restrictions which included the
closure of borders have had a severe negative impact on food security and
nutrition.
Addressing
members of the media at a meeting in Gweru, ZCSOSUNA national coordinator Kudakwashe Zombe said the closure of borders had a serious
impact on food security since many citizens buy much of their groceries from
neighbouring countries.
“The
restrictions that were put in place by government on 30 March 2020 greatly
affected our food supply chain. This is because as a country, we greatly rely
on imports particularly on food and grain.
“Access
to food markets was a major challenge due to movement restrictions. This resulted
in the decline of the quality of nutrition especially among children since much
of the food consumed at home was not fortified,” said Zombe.
He
called upon the media and citizens to take issues of nutrition more seriously
as they have an effect of the health of communities.
“We
need to reverse the lack of information on nutrition. It is a serious issue
that many people are not giving as much thought as is necessary. Let us all
take up the food and nutrition advocacy to help government alleviate hunger and
malnutrition,” he said.
ZCSOSUNA
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) officer Joel Chipfuwamuti said a recent
United Nations (UN) report reveals that over a third of the population of
children in African suffered from hunger and malnutrition.
He
said a position paper had been written to government on how Covid-19 impacted
food security while offering mechanisms of scaling up the national food
security system.
“As
an organisation, we did a position paper regarding the state and impact of Covid-19
and we hope to assist government efforts in addressing nutrition issues,” said Chipfuwamuti.
Gweru-based
senior journalist Locadia Mavhudzi said it was of paramount importance for the
media to be capacitated on the dissemination of food and nutrition information.
