Maputo — Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido on Wednesday called for changes in the current strategy to fight malnutrition, since the strategy is not yet reducing high rates of child mortality.

Speaking at the opening of a National Nutrition Meeting in Maputo, Garrido said that despite an appreciable and continual increase in the production of foodstuffs, Mozambique still has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in Africa.

That is one of the factors hindering the country's attempt to reach he Millennium Development Goal on child mortality - which is to cut the mortality rate among children under five years old by two thirds between 1990 and 2015.

Garrido warned that the statistics show an increase in chronic malnutrition among children. The number of chronically malnourished children rose from 36 per cent in 1997 to 41 per cent in 2003.

About four per cent of Mozambican children are suffering from acute malnutrition. People who are chronically malnourished have had their growth stunted by an inadequate diet, while those suffering from acute malnutrition are in danger of starving to death.

Garrido also pointed to links between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and malnutrition. The latest statistics suggest that 16 per cent of all Mozambicans between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV-positive. The minister called on participants at the meeting to reflect on the links between AIDS and malnutrition, to identify what actions can be taken to reverse the current situation, and advance towards food and nutritional security for all Mozambican communities

The meeting will analyse the nutritional activities carried out by the Health Ministry, and draw up strategies to improve the fight against malnutrition.