NCCK, Parliament Partner to Protect Children from NCDs
The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education are collaborating to protect school-age children from nutrition-driven Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
During a consultative meeting this week the secretariats of the two bodies, in partnership with the Kenya Ethical and Legal Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN), agreed to develop a legal and policy framework to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
“Unhealthy foods are foods that exceed the amount of sugar, salt or fats that are stipulated in the Kenya Nutrition Profile Model,” explained Imelda Namayi, the NCCK Assistant Manager responsible for health and education.
“The rise in consumption of unhealthy foods is directly proportional to the rise in number of cases of diabetes, hypertension, cancer and cardiovascular diseases”, Pauline Omotto of KELIN pointed out, adding that “there is therefore a need to restrict the advertisements of unhealthy foods that are targeted at children to protect their health and wellbeing.”
Douglas Katho, Clerk Assistant at Parliament, affirmed that building on previous engagements by the partners, the Committee was ready to drive legislative measures to buttress anti-NCDs policies.
The meeting agreed to compile a report on the existing legal framework, emerging gaps, and strategies to address them.
The consultative meeting came when 43% of deaths and over 60% of hospitalizations in Kenya are as a result of NCDs. Further, a report by UNICEF shows that obesity is currently more prevalent among school going children than underweight. As a form of malnutrition, obesity predisposes children to different health conditions including Non Communicable Diseases.
