Congo and WFP coordinate nutrition and health emergencies
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Aci
Congolese Health Minister Jean-Rosaire Ibara and the World Food Programme have signed a memorandum to coordinate efforts to combat malnutrition, manage epidemics and strengthen the national health system. The agreement targets women, children and vulnerable populations in particular, according to the Congolese News Agency.
Congolese Minister of Health and Population Jean-Rosaire Ibara and the World Food Programme’s (WFP) representative in Congo, Gon Myers, signed a memorandum of understanding in Brazzaville on 23 October to coordinate efforts to combat malnutrition, manage epidemics and strengthen the national health system, the Congolese News Agency (ACI) reports.
The cooperation will focus in particular on moderate acute malnutrition, monitoring nutrition activities, caring for children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people with chronic or infectious diseases. Congolese authorities and the WFP are to jointly define how the agreement will be implemented and monitored in the field, while the UN agency will provide logistical expertise for storing and delivering supplies to remote communities, according to ACI.
Jean-Rosaire Ibara also called for stronger continuing training, nutritional and epidemiological surveillance, and data collection. He described the memorandum as a framework to organise and sustain cooperation between the Congolese government and the WFP, ACI reports.
