LONDON: The UN World Food Programme has launched a campaign to provide nutritional support to hundreds of pregnant and nursing women in Gaza and the West Bank, aiming to combat malnutrition and high anemia rates among them.
The campaign will see the WFP provide cooking sessions and home gardening kits, as well as training to grow fruit and vegetables — all of which will be delivered at individual, household and community levels.
“Addressing important issues like anemia (iron deficiency) through community-based and online initiatives means accelerating and supporting a knowledge-sharing process,” said Samer Abdel Jaber, WFP representative and country director in Palestine.
“Through hands-on initiatives and harnessing the power of technology, we work together to build a process that ultimately aims not just to share information but to inspire people to apply it to their everyday activities.”
According to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency is an intermediate public health problem in Palestine, especially among children under 5.
WFP said its new campaign “aims to support mothers and families in improving their nutrition while boosting dietary iron consumption.”
Severe iron deficiency can have serious consequences for one’s health, increasing the risk of developing health complications that can affect the heart and lungs, including possible heart failure.
The WFP said encouraging people to grow their own iron-rich vegetables “will encourage participants to make healthy food and lifestyle choices for themselves and their families.”
The WFP is already working extensively in both the West Bank and Gaza. It provides food and cash assistance to vulnerable residents, and supports long-term resilience by providing skills-focused employment opportunities and offering home-based agricultural assets that strengthen food security.
According to the Washington-based Wilson Center and WFP, food insecurity affects 40 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and 60 percent in Gaza, not including refugees.
For Gazans, living under Israeli blockade and intermittent attacks, food insecurity is further exacerbated by import restrictions and the deprivation of access to Palestinian fishing zones by Israel’s coast guard.
