DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) on Friday began a two-day workshop in the Ugandan capital Kampala aimed at validating the region's draft food and nutrition security bulletin, the EAC said in a statement Friday.
Speaking at the opening session of the workshop, the EAC secretary general, Peter Mathuki, said the draft bulletin gives updates on the regional food security and nutrition status through analysis of food types and availability together with people's access to quality food supplies within member states during the review period.
"To gauge the region's level of food and nutrition security, the bulletin highlights data on children under five years old regarding underweight, overweight and stunting aspects," he said.
Mathuki said the bulletin is a product of the five-year EAC strategy and action plan on food and nutrition security adopted by the EAC Council of Ministers in 2019.
He said the strategy is designed to address prevailing gaps and challenges undermining food and nutrition security in the region by providing a unified multi-sectoral approach to the implementation and coordination of food and nutrition security programs at the national and regional levels.
The EAC is a regional intergovernmental organization of seven states: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. ■