By Fatou Saho
The national food security survey 2023 led by the Gambia government and World Food Program (WFP), has revealed that 53 percent of households in rural areas are experiencing food insecurity.
WFP Country Director Miranda Sende made the disclosure during the inaugural meeting of ‘Fill the nutrient gap’ held at the National Nutrition Agency, NaNA.
“According to the report, 24 percent of households in the country are experiencing inadequate food consumption,” Ms Miranda added.
She said the findings of the 2023 Nutrition Sentinel Survey has also reveal critical levels of “acute malnutrition” among children aged 6-59 months old, with a prevalence of 8.5 percent.
“It has also exposed chronic malnutrition prevalence of 18.3 percent at the national level.”
According to her, the 2023 Nutrition Sentinel Survey also shows that only 16.5 percent of children aged 6-23 months meet the minimum acceptable diet, while only 31.8 percent meet the minimum dietary diversity and only 40.8 percent meet the minimum meal frequency.
She said the findings has triggered the WFP together with its partners to develop the “Fill the nutrient gap analysis” to provide a situational analysis aimed at identifying the main obstacles households and individuals face in accessing nutritious food.
“WFP believes findings of these first FNG analysis to be carried out in the country will help the government and other stakeholders to identify context-appropriate interventions that can be implemented throughout the food system in different sectors including the social protection, health, education and private sector systems to provide people with better access and affordable nutrients to fill the nutritious gaps,” she added.
