National food and nutrition strategy

Abstract

Ethiopia still faces a high burden of malnutrition due to environmental, social, political, economic, and cultural factors. Inadequate agricultural productivity, post-harvest losses, poor food safety and quality, poor caring and feeding practices, inadequate access to WASH products and practices and poor-quality health services, natural disasters such as drought and climate change, population growth, land degradation and lack of infrastructure are major drivers of the country’s food and nutrition insecurity. The problem is further compounded by cultural beliefs, food taboos and traditional cooking and feeding practices, which tend to discourage women and children from consuming nutritious foods. Nutrition security demands the utilisation of food to generate optimal nutritional status, wellbeing, productivity, and longevity. Nutrition security is achieved when the secure access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food is coupled with proper care and feeding practices, a sanitary environment and access to adequate health services, thereby ensuring a healthy life for all household members. Hence, food security alone is insufficient to ensure nutrition security. Thus, access to clean water, a hygienic environment, and adequate health

National Food and Nutrition Strategy 2 Summary Booklet care services are central components of attaining nutrition security. Unhygienic environments, coupled with poor access to health services, impose a heavy disease burden that makes it difficult for individuals to properly utilize and absorb the nutrients they consume, which in turn further increases their exposure to infectious disease.