DILI, 02 september 2021 (TATOLI) – The Government of Timor-Leste had been working on redefining its commitment and action plan on scaling up nutrition and ending hunger, which will be presented at the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, on December 7-8, 2021.
“Redefining key priorities is important for the government to focus its investment on the areas that would help the acceleration of the improvement of nutrition in the country. Our first preparation is to consolidate our action plan. So, 17 key priorities had been redefined in our work plan,” Filipe Da Costa, the Special Representative of the Food Security and Nutrition, the National Focal Point of SUN Movement and National Convenor for UN Food System Summit, told reports at the Palace of the Government, in Dili, today.
He said the 17 key priorities program that had been redefined in each of seven government ministries, including School Feeding Program of the Ministry of Education, Bolsa da Mãe of the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion (MSSI), Clean Water and Sanitation of the Ministry of Public Works, Breast Feeding Program, Complementary Feeding, and Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition of the Ministry of Health, Diversifying Food System and Production Diversification, and Diversification of Fisheries and Aquaculture Products and Systems of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and so on.
“So, our main target is scaling up our nutrition to free our communities from malnutrition in the country,” said Costa.
Costa emphasized that Timor-Leste is one of the fertile nations but, saying many of its population are undernourished.
Previously, he said that there are still 36% of households experiencing food insecurity in Timor-Leste, saying the nation has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world, with 47 percent of children under five suffering from chronic malnutrition: “The presence of COVID 19 and the devastating floods caused by Tropical Cyclone Seroja making the challenges even worse.”
He said to combat malnutrition in Timor-Leste, recently, the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak launched Prime Minister Nutrition Award: “This has renewed the Government’s commitment for improving and mobilizing more resources for nutrition.”
Apart from Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, the government also had been preparing to participate in the UN Food Systems Summit, to be held during the UN General Assembly in New York, on september 23, 2021.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
