Corn porridge with dried fish, chicken sauce with native plants and rice pudding with locally-grown peanuts are just some of the innovative recipes that communities across Zambia are experimenting with to improve their nutrition and save money.
A drought that lasted throughout 2024 left many Zambians struggling to buy enough food for their families. Farmers who relied on subsistence agriculture found that crops were failing or not producing what they had planned for. There were few farmers who had the kinds of surpluses that would allow them to buy additional foods to ensure a balanced diet.
UNFPA has been working with the Ministry of Health in Zambia on long-term system improvement programs, and was ready to support emergency programs when the drought struck. To date, over 150,000 people in the most remote areas have been reached by UNFPA-supported mobile clinics which offer primary health care as well as family planning, counselling and referrals for gender-based violence.
Mobile clinics bring the community together, and UNFPA experts saw that there was a unique opportunity to build knowledge around nutrition. Working closely with the Ministry of Health’s nutritionists, UNFPA has supported hands-on interactive training classes on improving the nutritional value of foods using ingredients that can be found in nature or which are very cheap to buy.
UNFPA program officer Jenipher Mijere was responsible for ensuring health workers had the support to conduct these classes.
“All Zambians will agree that a meal is not complete without nshima,” she said. “But while cornmeal like this makes you feel full, it doesn’t have all the nutrients that are needed. We are seeing too many women and children who are only eating one or two types of foods and not getting the vitamins and minerals they need.”
Local ingredients like kapenta, or tiny dried fish, are high in protein and other nutrients. They can be added to a range of dishes and add nutrients as well as flavour. Peanuts are often seen just as snacks, but their high mineral and protein content mean that they can turn a simple meal into something very nutritious.
UNFPA collaborates with Norwegian Church Aid, the World Food Programme, the Zambian Ministry of Health, and Lifeline / Childline to ensure sexual and reproductive health and protection are mainstreamed in food and cash distributions. The main supporter of this work is the Government of Sweden, and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) is supporting UNFPA with funds to assist with protection mainstreaming.
