PM for united efforts to address Covid-19 challenges, impacts

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday laid emphasis on united efforts to address the Covid-19 challenges and its impacts on public health as the pandemic has marked a significant setback on the nutrition initiatives.

“Urgent actions and united efforts are needed to address the challenges of COVID-19, along with its impacts on public health and nutrition,” she said.

The premier made this remark while virtually addressing the “Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2021” held in Japan, BSS reports.

As the summit comes at a critical time, midway of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Action on Nutrition, she opined that it is the time for bold commitments to develop “a global partnership to end all forms of malnutrition”.

Mentioning that ensuring nutrition for all citizens is a daunting task, she said investment in nutrition security generates high socio-economic returns leading the way to sustainable growth and development.

The prime minister also placed five-point proposals to ensure healthy and nutritious diets for the growing population.

In her first proposal, she said international community needs to work together to tackle the challenges of COVID-19, including its impact on nutrition programs.

Secondly, she opted for the enhanced collaboration to advance research for growing high yielding nutritious foods.

She, in her third proposal, called for building food banks at regional and global levels to be secured from emergency disasters.

Fourthly, the premier stressed the need for exchanging of best practices and expertise to increase nutrient contents in food.