Botswana is working with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to develop the southern African country’s first national plan to address nutritional challenges.
Botswanan Minister of Health Edwin Dikoloti on Tuesday told Botswana’s parliament that the country’s first National Food and Nutrition Policy is expected to be completed during the 2024-25 financial year.
“The policy is aimed at harmonizing nutrition action plans, goals, and targets across all the relevant sectors,” said Dikoloti.
Botswana continues to suffer the double challenges of malnutrition and overweight, he said.
The underweight prevalence among children under the age of five stood at 3.8 percent in 2023, slightly above the national target of 3 percent, while 3.6 percent of children aged below five and 33 percent of adults were overweight, according to the minister.
As part of its commitment to improving the nutritional status of the population, Dikoloti said Botswana has also collaborated with the Southern African Development Community to develop a five-year Botswana Food Fortification Strategy (2024-2028).
Fortifying staple foods with essential micronutrients is an important part of a broad strategy to reduce malnutrition, which will benefit local food milling industries in advancing innovation in the fortification of foods such as wheat flour, maize meal, sorghum meal, and edible oils, he said.
