Call for multi-pronged malnutrition strategy

Bangladesh is trapped by ‘the vicious cycle’ of malnutrition, experts say suggesting ‘strong multi-sectoral’ approach to break it for a healthy generation.

“It’s not a health issue only, it requires people across sectors like agriculture, water, sanitation, education, employment to work together,” says Dr Kaosar Afsana, Secretary of the Civil Society Alliance for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) in Bangladesh.

According to her, a well-nourished woman would deliver a healthy baby and “if the baby gets proper nutrition he/she will grow strong and will succeed in schools and earn more”.

“Eventually families will emerge out of poverty,” she said on Tuesday, adding that investing in nutrition “can help break the cycle of poverty”.

“It’s a smart investment,” she said, “It can increase a country’s GDP by at least 2 to 3 percent annually.” “Investing a dollar in nutrition can result in a return of up to $ 30”

The Civil Society Alliance organised a seminar on exploring the opportunities for SUN in Bangladesh on Tuesday just days before the June 8 “Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science” Summit in London.

The civil society was formed last year, nearly two years after the global SUN movement to support the national effort to scale up nutrition.

National and international organisations like BRAC, Save the Children, Unicef, Plan Bangladesh, Concern Worldwide, DFID, Alive and Thrive, and FHI 360 joined the alliance to take forward the nutrition issue in Bangladesh.

With 41 percent under-five children too small for their height, 16 percent wasted and 36 percent underweight, Bangladesh is one of the malnutrition burdened countries in the world despite its better health outcomes.

Latest statistics show about 24 percent women are also suffering from chronic malnutrition.

“It’s a critical emergency situation in which we see low-birth weight babies,” Afsana said.

She said without a multi-sectoral platform “it would be difficult to break the cycle”.

Dr Rukhsana Haider, Chairperson of the Civil Society Alliance, said malnutrition in children and women remained as ‘a continuing challenge’ for Bangladesh as in many parts of the world.

She said in the coming week there would be ‘a number of high level meetings to highlight nutrition on the global agenda’.

World leaders would also be called upon to make ‘bold’ commitment to scale up government action to tackle hunger and malnutrition.

Member of the Global Civil Society Network for SUN Dr Sultana Khanum said in the run up to the summit, “there has been huge campaign not only in the UK, but also across the world”.

“From Australia to Zambia people are campaigning holding rallies, concerts and roundtables with their politicians asking their national governments to do what is required to tackle hunger and malnutrition,” she said.

New State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki joined the seminar in her maiden public meeting after being sworn in and inaugurated a website of the alliance www.suncsa.org.

She acknowledged the need of ‘multi-sectoral’ approach in tackling malnutrition and highlighted her government’s commitment in this regard.

Chumki listed the women empowerment as well as child protection policies, social safety net and school feeding programmes as efforts that she said can lead the way to a healthier society.