About 40% of locals are overweight, while 20% are obese, with these rough estimates attributed to the lack of a balanced diet – or in many instances, overindulgence of food, the Nutrition and Security Food Alliance of Namibia has said.
“Namibia is suffering from a double malnutrition – the first being the co-existence of overnutrition (overweight and obesity) and underweight (stunting and wasting), which is at all levels of the Namibia population,” said Carmen Lethlagoje during the nutrition and security food workshop recently.
Partners like the World Food Programme (WFP) have reiterated the need for the first 1 000 days – from conception to two years of age – to be pivotal in determining a child’s destiny, as inadequate nutrition in this window period can lead to stunting, causing irreversible damage to children’s bodies and brains.
“There is a need to differentiate between the healthy brain of a normal child and the brain of a stunted/malnourished child. If stunting is not addressed and treated within the first two years, its effects are irreversible,” said Lethlagoje.
She added that short-term effects of stunting include a weak immune system, slow brain development and other side effects, while long-term effects of stunting are stunted growth, low productivity, as well as the risk of diabetes and cancer.
“Diabetes often comes with excessive thirst and urination, blindness, numbness in toes and fingers (gangrene), delayed wound healing, loss of limbs, kidney failure and need for dialyses. Costs can also be high for family, colleagues and society at large in terms of health system costs,” stated Lethlagoje
NAFSAN director Ben Schernick added that in Namibia, 24% of children are stunted, hence the revision of the national food and security policy that was developed to implement an action plan to improve food security and nutrition situations for all Namibians.
He said: “An important policy is to reduce the prevalence of undernourishment and obesity among children by facilitating the provision of adequate food and nutrition from mothers to children and ensuring optimal health and productivity of all Namibians,” he said.
On 4 July 2023, the Namibia School Feeding Information Management System (NASIS) was launched by WFP in partnership with the education ministry with the main objective of enhancing the monitoring, evaluation, reporting and implementation procedures of the Namibia School Feeding Programme (NSFP) in public schools.
By utilising this comprehensive school feeding system, digital school registrations can be improved along with electronic meal vouchers and attendance tracking systems. NASIS makes it possible to effectively monitor student enrolment rates as well as track attendance and other important performance indicators.
In 2022, WFP proceeded to implement its Country Strategic Plan 2017-2023 in Namibia, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Through WFP’s projects in 2022, a total of 32 610 people were reached, which is nearly 10% of the total population experiencing limited or uncertain access to adequate food.
Furthermore, for nutrition, WFP contributed to building peoples’ skills and knowledge on healthy eating. It reached nearly 1 800 community members, including smallholder farmers, children under the age of five and people living with HIV to promote nutritional messaging that is aimed at changing dietary habits.