WAPA Distributes Food Items To 500 Women To Promote Healthy Nutrition—-More than 500 women smiled home with food items on Thursday at a Healthy Nutrition for Indigent Women programme organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA).
Mrs Cecilia Dada, the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, in her address, said that the focus of the advocacy programme was to educate women on good eating habit.
She said that the event was meant to address the problems of food security, promoting habits and activities that would reduce malnutrition amongst Lagos women residents.
” The programme is specifically designed to improve the nutritional status, reduce wastage, curb stunted growth, manage obesity or micronutrient deficiencies, as well as regulate indicators on health issues.
“Our motive is to develop a set of learning experiences intended for ensuring qualitative food consumption in order to foster good health and general well-being of our women.
“The phenomena which the burden of malnutrition in the world creates, remain inadmissibly high, despite assiduous efforts in tackling under nutrition, overweight and obesity, it has been inconsistent and slow.
“A major challenge faced by women and adolescent girls in achieving healthy nutrition is that, they are at greater risk of malnutrition, due to the increased nutritional needs associated with menstruation, pregnancy and lactation.
“This is reflected in the high rates of anemia which affects 33 per cent women of reproductive age, globally (about 613 million women),” Dada added.
She said that one common nutritional problem amongst women and adolescents identified included low consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and calcium and low-fat dairy foods.
According to her, others are high consumption of sweetened beverages; and frequent consumption of fast foods which are all linked to heart diseases, stroke, cancer and early death.
The commissioner noted that the social intervention initiative of the LASG became necessary as death rate of women was on the increase and alarming, admonishing them to be mindful of what they eat to stay health.
Dada, however, noted that the increase in food prices had forced many households’ purchasing power to decrease in diet composition, even as it diminishes the total energy consumption.
” These changes directly affect all targets of the Millennium Developmental Goals, productive employment and hunger sketch, bringing it down to the state level,” she said.
She stated that measures would be put in place to continue to initiate, educate, embark and sustain programmes and activities to support the empowering of women with knowledge to healthy living.
On the sideline, Mrs Funmilola Olugbade, a nutritionist educated the women on the need to eat the appropriate diet for their wellbeing.
Olugbade also enlightened them on the importance of breastfeeding and ensuring that children were given food with adequate nutrients in the first two years of their life. (NAN)
