Freetown — Manager, national nutrition and food programme at the ministry of health Friday told journalists that the ECOWAS commission would today commence a five-day deliberation to discuss nutrition and food security in Freetown.

Sylvetta Scott said the programme themed: "Nutrition and food security," would attract 150 participants from all ECOWAS countries.

She said the confab would be organized in Sierra Leone to showcase the country as one of the most peaceful in the region.

Scott said the forum would provide ways to combat food security in ECOWAS countries.

Reducing malnutrition in Sierra Leone, she said, would strengthen the health sector as well as increase public awareness.

She said malnutrition was one of the major causes of the high rate of under-five mortality while it also lowers economic productivity in the region.

"Malnutrition is a critical indicator of poverty and hunger, one of the main indicators used to measure progress towards the attainment of the millennium development goals," she said.