ICTs can help end scourge of malnutrition

THE Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts obesity and the subsequent rise in nutriand Recreation, in partnership with tion-related non-communicable diseases a non-governmental organisation, have had negative effects on the health of Boost Fellowship, and the United Nations our population. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), recently conducted “We hope to continue our work with more a three-day nutrition event focused on creatinitiatives and partnerships, including with ing ICT-based solutions by adolescents and our UN sister agencies, especially to promote youth to address malnutrition in Zimbabwe. further innovations with young people, as Other applications provide nutritional

Speaking at the Nutrition Hackathon last well as continue the work in nutrition and food timetables for people with different week, UNICEF representative Laylee Moshiri healthy lifestyles and foster participation of health statuses, including those living with said everyone had to take nutritionalHIV.issuesyoungpeople.” seriously, as poor nutrition comes with many At least 11 groups comprising 60 young e World Health Organisation (WHO) dangers. innovators across Zimbabwe, who created defines malnutrition as deficiencies, excesses

She said UNICEF will continue to partner ICT-based solutions to solve malnutrition or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy with other UN sister agencies to promote problems, took part in the Nutrition Hackand/or nutrients. further work with young people. athon. Basically, it has been categorised into two

“Nutrition is something we all need to take Some of the mobile applications by the groups. very seriously as we see the effects of poor young innovators link farmers with their The first one is under nutrition, which nutrition every day,” said Moshiri. “Stuntcustomers, and this helps to create markets includes stunting, wasting, underweight and ing, micro-nutrient deficiencies, overweight, for small-scale farmers in rural areas. micro-nutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies.

Another category comprises overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer).

ICTs have become a strong ally in strengthening individuals’ healthy lifestyle, taking into account nutrition intake and physical activity levels.

Nutrition applications provide the means for automatic dietary intake and energy expenditure measurements, as well as personalised counselling and educational services.

Technology can help us in solving the problem of malnutrition, especially now when everything is being done through the internet. This can also help us to achieve a healthy world.

Malnutrition is mainly affecting youths and adolescents, with obesity among this demographic increasing due to over-eating and/or consistently making poor food choices, mainly influenced by social media.

Technology can then help solve this problem since this demographic mainly uses the internet, and their choice of food is often influenced by what they see there.

There is need to encourage the consumption of indigenous foods through social media platforms and nutritional applications, as these days, people shun our traditional dishes opting for junk foods.

The mobile applications can be effective in ending malnutrition to people of all ages because they will provide nutritional information to most of the people who use smartphones.

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