[pronut-hiv] Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI) (2)

["peter kingori" <peter.kingori@fsau.or.ke>]

In the face of HIV/AIDS pandemic, there could never be a better initiative.
But there is need to make it more responsive to the needs of school going
children affected by HIV/AIDS. In particular, there is need to recognise
that, in Africa, and I believe in most of developing countries, there has
been a significant loss of skills transfer to growing children as a result
of death of parents from HIV/AIDS. Children will always learn farming skills by working with their parents. However this does not mean that the growing problem of obesity especially among urban high income children should be ignored.

In an initiative like NFSI children orphaned by AIDS should identified as a
vulnerable group and working together with donors and other stakeholders
ensure that this vital link, severed by HIV/AIDS, is restored.

Provision of survival skills through schools is important for orphans in
order to protect them from food and nutrition insecurity.


__________________________________________
Peter Kingori 
Nutrition Project Officer 
Food Security Analysis Unit, Somalia 
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
Kalson Towers - 3rd Floor
P.O.  Box 1230 Village Market , Nairobi
Tel: +254-20-3745734
Office Mobile: 0733-616881
www.fsausomali.org
 
 

---- ProNut-HIV--- wrote:
Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI)

Nutrition-related health problems in children are increasingly
significant causes of disability and premature death worldwide. While
undernutrition continues to be a major problem in many developing
countries, the problem of overweight and obesity have reached epidemic
proportions globally, and both developed and developing countries are
seriously affected. In some countries, the epidemic of obesity sits
alongside continuing problems of undernutrition, creating a
double-burden of nutrition-related ill health among the population,
including children.

Based on the principle that effectively addressing the increasing
global public health problem of the double-burden of nutrition-related
ill-health requires common policy options, the Nutrition-Friendly
Schools Initiative (NFSI) has been developed as follow-up to the WHO
Expert Meeting on Childhood Obesity (Kobe, 20-24 June 2005).

The main aim of the NFSI is to provide a framework for designing
integrated school-based intervention programmes which address the
double-burden of nutrition-related ill health, building on and
inter-connecting the on-going work of various agencies and partners.
These include the FRESH Initiative, Essential Package (UNICEF/WFP),
Child-Friendly Schools (UNICEF), Health Promoting Schools (WHO), School
Food and Nutrition Education programmes (FAO) to mention just a few.
NFSI applies the concept and principles of the Baby-friendly Hospital
Initiative (BFHI).

Improving the nutritional status of school-age children is an effective
investment for the future generation. Pre-schools and schools offer many
opportunities to promote healthy dietary and physical activity patterns
for children and are also a potential access point for engaging parents
and community members in preventing child malnutrition in all its forms
(i.e. undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity & other
nutrition-related chronic diseases). The universality of the school
setting for gaining access to children makes it highly relevant to
global efforts to combat the increasing public health problems of the
double-burden of nutrition-related ill health.

Contact address:

Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD) 
Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative (NFSI)
World Health Organization
20, Avenue Appia
CH - 1211 Geneva 27 
Switzerland
email:NFSI@who.int 
Fax: + 41.22.791.4156