The UN discovers malnutrition and anemia in several populations

Canadian Deborah Hines, professional specialized in food economy, who has lived in Quito for two years as a representative for Ecuador World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations Organization (UN), visited Guayaquil in early June to discuss our country’s food conditions.

Deborah Hines

In an interview with Expreso Newspaper, Hines revealed, according to research, that Ecuador needs to diversify the family diet, since that in several provinces people is suffering from malnutrition and anemia.

So one of the main objectives of WFP is working directly with producer associations and families to produce more fruits and vegetables and to facilitate access to these foods. In addition, they want to improve the quality of water that is being ingested by the population, along with a worming program.

In coordination with the Coordinating Ministry of Social Development, a hunger map was made, which determines the critical zones of the country. It was further determined that the problem is directly related to poverty and lack of knowledge of good nutrition. “The important thing is to change habits,” says Hines.

Another peculiar objective of WFP is to share recipes with parents, with teachers and children in schools, so that they know how to mix good food and create balanced meals.

Ecuadorians also suffer from malnutrition due to poorly-made food.