INADEQUATE intakes of food with nutritional values especially among children have continued to cause malnutrition in Zambia.

Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients like energy, protein, iron, vitamin A and iodine are lacking.

According to statistics, one in every 10 children born in Zambia has a low birth weight of less than the recommended 2.5kilogrammes which is a sign that the problem of malnutrition starts early in life.

To mitigate such challenges, the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) and other stakeholders like the United Nations and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently hosted a two-day National Nutrition Consultative Forum at Zambezi Sun Hotel in Livingstone to find ways of addressing the problem of high malnutrition in Zambia.

The forum, whose theme was "Accelerating Nutrition Actions in Zambia", came at the time when Zambia is faced with chronic malnutrition with 45 per cent of children under the age of five being stunted while five per cent are acutely malnourished and 14 per cent are underweight below the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s threshold.

In addition, 53 per cent of Zambian children have Vitamin A deficiency, 46 per cent have iron deficiency anaemia and 10 to 13 per cent are born with low birth weight, indicating poor maternal nutrition.

About 130 participants from within Zambia and abroad drawn from the Government, bilateral partners, United Nations (UN) and multilateral agencies, international and local Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), academicians and the private sector attended the two-day forum.

The forum mainly advocated for improved investments in nutrition and to develop a roadmap on short to medium and long term interventions to address chronic malnutrition in Zambia.

It also sought to review strategic national commitments to address chronic malnutrition and reach consensus on prioritisation of addressing the impact of chronic malnutrition in Zambia.

At the end of the forum, delegates resolved that preparatory activities for the Scale Up Nutrition (SUN) initiatives should be started.

Zambia is one of the right countries that were recently admitted to participate on the SUN movement whose aim was to take effective action to reduce global malnutrition particularly among the youngest and the most vulnerable children.

NFNC chief executive officer Cassim Masi said the deliberations of the Forum resulted in consensus on issues that would significantly contribute towards finalisation of the Food and Nutrition Sector Strategy Plan and improvement of nutrition in the nation.

Dr Masi said the meeting, which was opened by President Rupiah Banda, agreed that stakeholders should mainstream nutrition in their programmes because it was the cornerstone for development,

"It was noted that a set of proven interventions should focus on the "window of opportunity" from pregnancy to two years of life in order to achieve sustained reductions in malnutrition," he said.

Dr Masi said the meeting involved the participation of key stakeholders drawn from the food and nutrition sectors.

Speaking when he officially opened the forum, President Banda said the importance of good nutrition in any country can not be over emphasised.

He said nutrition is the basis of life saying good nutrition involved the availability of the required food nutrients and in the required amount.

"This is what contributes to a healthy population. Without a health population, it would be difficult for anyone to undertake development projects.

The Government's Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) provides farming input support to small-scale farmers meant to achieve food sufficiency at both national and household levels.

A livestock disease free zone is being created to control and prevent livestock diseases saying such programmes have far-reaching implications for nutrition given that protein, energy and micronutrients are necessary requisites in fighting malnutrition.

He commended the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) and all cooperating partners who had been instrumental in making the nutritional consultative forum a reality.

At the same function, United Nations resident coordinator Kanni Wignaraja said stunting of children is a collective concern among various stakeholders. Stunting of children remains a problem of far greater magnitude than underweight.

It is estimated that 200 million children under five years of age in developing countries are stunted in Africa and Asia which is about 90 per cent of all children in the two regions.

"On behalf of the United Nations Systems in Zambia and other colleagues, let me reiterate our full commitment to supporting such national responses that will effectively address the issues of stunting and under-nutrition in the country.

"When done right, it is a field that can show rapid gains and tangible results also in the short term, as has been demonstrated in parts of South and South East Asia," she said.

NFNC chairperson Phoebe Bwembya said the goal of the forum was to advocate for improved investment in food and nutrition in Zambia and called for the development of solutions to address chronic nutrition in Zambia.

NFNC deputy executive director Beatrice Kawana said current estimates indicate that about 14.6 per cent of children below five years are underweight, as compared to 16 per cent in Angola and 11 per cent in Botswana, according to a UNICEF report in 2008.

Ms Kawana said estimates of stunting are as high as 45 per cent as compared to 29 per cent in Angola despite Angola having come from a war situation, and 21 per cent in Botswana.

She said malnutrition dis-empowers individuals by causing or aggravating illness, lowering educational attainment, diminishing livelihood skills and options.

It also limits individual's ability to seize opportunities and reduces resilience to resist the challenges and shocks it generates.

She said the effects of malnutrition on economic development include lost future wages over a 10-year-period amounting to US$318 million.

Zambia is expected to lose about $1.7 million in future economic production if current levels of stunting are not reversed.

"According to scientific evidence, one per cent drop in iron status results in at least one per cent reduction in productivity.

"Based on this, Zambia will lose about $4.5 million dollars in productivity if current levels are not reversed," she said.

Ms Kawana said the total cost of malnutrition to worker productivity in Zambia was approximated using profiles to 6.2 million US dollars due to iodine deficiency disorders, 10.2 million US dollars due to stunting, and 8.1 million US dollars due to iron deficiency anaemia.

"This is a total of $24.5 million - just over the 10 years projection from 2010-2019.

This is just the cost of the three nutritional problems we have examined," she said.

Paediatrician consultant Chifumbe Chintu defined malnutrition in general as cultural, political, economic and social disorder which present with some signs and symptoms.

Prof Chintu said poverty leads to produce or access inadequate nutritious food saying tackling poverty would be one of the strategies of combating malnutrition.

"The Government, stakeholders, civil society, non-governmental organisations and other partners are actively engaged in alleviating poverty.

"They need to do more especially in light of what former Ambassador Godfrey Simasiku said 11 years ago. We need to explore why efforts of the government and other institutions have not had the desired impact of significantly alleviating poverty and therefore malnutrition over the years," he said.

He also recalled that Paul Kapotwe who was executive director of the Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM) said in September 2008 that stunting in Zambia was high and should be considered as an emergency.