By Iyemah David
The International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH), says malnutrition has a huge impact on a woman’s employment prospects and earning potential.
The Executive Director of the ISMPH, Mrs Moji Makanjuola, said this on Sunday in the Kwali Area Council, Abuja at the end of three-day training and empowerment of 30 women.
She said women are disproportionately affected by malnutrition, as 60 per cent of the world’s 800 million malnourished people are women, and they are also critical actors in finding lasting solution.
Makanjuola said that Improving women’s social and economic status within their households and the communities had a direct impact on food security and nutrition, in particularly on child nutrition.
ISMPH added that the European Union (EU) funded the training and empowerment of poor and vulnerable women in the Kwali to combat the menace of child malnutrition.
The executive director said that the initiative, which was being supported through the Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) Programme of the EU, in partnership with the ISMPH, would bequeath skills to earn income to about 30 women.
She added that it would also teach them about affordable nutritious food options for themselves and their families.
“Women play a critical role in ensuring that their nutritional needs and those of their children and families are met.
“Women are also an integral part of delivering nutrition-sensitive interventions, and optimising food systems to address the double burden of malnutrition.
“The burden is characterised by the co-existence of nutritional deficiencies, underweight, and overweight and obesity in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs),” she said.
She said that the programme trained the women on how to produce organic fertilisers and charcoal, which they can sell to earn incomes.
The Etsu of Kwali, Alhaji Shaban Audu Nizazo III, commended the empowerment programme by the EU/ ISMPH.
Nizazo said that the empowerment aimed to improve the status of the people of Kwali, to enable the women provide for themselves and their families.
He said that the women were now been elevated socially and economically so that they can depend on themselves independently to participate in the country’s economy.
