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Bangladesh: UN agency launches nutrition support campaign for children, women

Child's arm being measured to assess his nutritional state at a feeding centre in Dahakula village, Bangladesh.
WFP/S. Noorani
Child's arm being measured to assess his nutritional state at a feeding centre in Dahakula village, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh: UN agency launches nutrition support campaign for children, women

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today it will begin rolling out a new campaign aimed at providing nutritional support to Bangladeshi children and pregnant and nursing women.

The campaign, which will specifically target the country’s Cox’s Bazar district where almost 20 per cent of children under the age of five are undernourished, will not only include nutritional support for those in need but also provide nutrition education for the community-at-large.

“The rolling out of this programme to improve maternal and child nutrition with the Government is an important step in the fight against undernutrition in Cox’s Bazar,” said Christa Räder, WFP Representative in Bangladesh.

“By acting now to address the critical first 1,000 days of life and the period up to age five, WFP aims to help children reach their full potential later in life,” she added.

WFP plans to assist 14,800 children and 2,000 pregnant and nursing women through the programme.