The Gambia is one of 46 countries in the African region that does not have a food-based dietary guideline. Given the poor nutritional situation, dietary habits and unhealthy lifestyles in the country, there is a need for a comprehensive guideline to address the nutritional needs of the vulnerable populations; such as infants, young children, pregnant and lactating women, adolescent and the elderly. The availability of such comprehensive guideline will also help reduce the burden of diet-related Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country.
The nutritional needs of individuals change throughout their life cycle and different target groups require different nutritional uptake for living a healthy and long life. Thus, there is the need for a comprehensive food-based dietary guideline that will address the need of different target groups of the population.
It is in view of this need that the Nutrition Unit under the Ministry of Health, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, and key stakeholders are working to develop the first Food Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs) for the country. It is envisaged that the document will provide advice on food, food groups and dietary patterns to promote overall healthy lifestyle and prevent chronic diseases.
Fatou A Darboe, the Programme Manager at the Nutrition Unit, said that FBDGs are one of the FAO/WHO recommended tools to improve healthy eating habits and lifestyles of individuals and populations.
“The Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (also known as dietary guidelines) intends to establish a basis for public food and nutrition, health and agricultural policies and nutrition education programmes to foster healthy eating habits and lifestyles.The nutritionist further explained that the FBGD seeks to improve the nutrition well being of the general population by encouraging the consumption of fresh locally produced foods, positive eating habits/behaviors and lifestyles. This will reduce malnutrition, prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and improve food quality, security, and safety in The Gambia. “Food security can only exist when all people at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life,” she noted.
Programe Manager Darboe further explained that households in The Gambia experience both acute and chronic food insecurity. She made reference to the Wood Food Programme (WFP) 2013 Vulnerable Analysis and Mapping baseline data, which indicates that two-third of Gambian households face some form of food insecurity and are especially vulnerable during pre-harvest lean season from June to September.
She observed that foods commonly consumed in The Gambia include rice, millet, sorghum, maize, findi, cassava, palm oil, groundnut, fish and fish products, meat and meat products, other sea foods, green leafy vegetables and beans. She said consumption of other food groups; especially fruits and vegetables, is not common and mostly depends on household purchasing power and consumer preference. Further on the relevance of FBDGs, Madam Darboe said it is very crucial to provide guidelines to qualify and quantify the food components; such as amount of salt, protein and with healthy eating habits.
“Many families cannot afford to regularly consume diversified diet and this has implications for nutritional well-being; especially of vulnerable children under five years old, adolescent and the elderly”.
The nutritionist alerted that malnutrition among children continues to be a major public health problem in The Gambia; that children under five years of age are vulnerable due to poor feeding practices, inadequate care and increasing exposure to infection with poor environmental sanitation. The Gambia Micronutrient Survey (2018) found prevalence of stunting, wasting and under weight of 15.7%, 5.8% and 10.6% respectively compared to 25% (stunting) 12% (wasting) and 16% (underweight) in the DHS 2013. “Despite the drop in the prevalence of malnutrition it still remains a challenge and above the global targets,” she observed.
Like many countries The Gambia is also experiencing the double burden of malnutrition with the emergence of diet-related Non–Communicable Diseases; such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, obesity and some forms of cancers. NCD accounts of 34% of all deaths in The Gambia, according to the WHO country profile 2018.
The move by stakeholders to come up with nutrition recommendations that will make into a guide that aims to help the public make better food choices, for health wellbeing and also help in preventing Non-Communicable Diseases is indeed commendable.
