Machinga communities told to prepare nutritious food

Development Aid from People to People (Dapp) has encouraged communities in Machinga to ensure that expectant women, breastfeeding mothers and under-five children have access to six food groups to fight malnutrition.

Dapp nutrition project coordinator Shyreen Malunga made the call on Friday during a cooking demonstration held at Senior Chief Nyambi’s headquarters in the district.

She said: “We observed that the district was registering malnutrition cases.

“So, we decided to work with health and agriculture departments to reverse the situation.”

Malunga also said they selected promoters from different villages to teach communities how to prepare nutritious food using locally-available resources.

In her remarks, Machinga District Hospital nutrition coordinator Francina Taibu commended Dapp for the project.

“The project has helped to reduce malnutrition cases in the district,” she said.

Nutrition promoter Nancy Jackson commended the Dapp-led nutrition project, saying it has improved the intake of locally-available nutritious food among mothers and under-five children.

“DAPP has equipped community members with knowledge on how to process local food into different food groups,” she said.

The nutrition project comprises 82 care groups supervised by 36 promoters.