Today, Sunday, the Ministry of Health launched the National Nutrition Strategy and its executive framework for the years (2023-2030) in cooperation with the World Health Organization, with the aim of achieving better nutrition levels for all segments of society.

Minister of Health Dr. Firas Al-Hawari said during the launch ceremony that the strategy confirms the commitment of the government and other stakeholders to laying the foundations to achieve better levels of nutrition for all segments of society. In line with the royal vision related to the necessity of achieving the goals of economic and social development.
He added that the strategy will constitute a roadmap to guide government efforts and the efforts of relevant partners to improve nutrition for all segments of society in order to prevent malnutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies and diet-related noncommunicable diseases, and to strengthen diets.
And he indicated that Jordan has achieved radical improvements in the field of nutrition in recent decades, pointing to the progress made in addressing undernutrition in children, which was evident through the decrease in the prevalence of stunting and the maintenance of wasting levels at low levels, in addition to the contribution made by adding iodine to salt. Fortification of wheat flour with iron and other nutrients will reduce the prevalence of iodine deficiency and severe anemia.

The minister explained that the 2019 national study to assess micronutrient deficiencies and nutritional status among Jordanians and Syrian refugees indicated an improvement in the prevalence of anemia and vitamin A deficiency among children under five years of age, which reached 19 percent and 8 percent, respectively. The prevalence of stunting fell to 7%, wasting to less than 1%, and overweight and obesity was 9%.
For women of childbearing age, the study showed an improvement in the percentage of anemia and the absence of a health problem for vitamin A deficiency, while the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency reached 63 percent, folic acid deficiency was 11 percent, and vitamin B12 was about 19 percent. The study showed that the rate of overweight and obesity increased to 59 percent, and there was no health problem with low weight, as its prevalence was less than 2 percent.

For her part, the representative of the World Health Organization in Jordan, Dr. Jamila Al-Rabi, said, “Proper nutrition is necessary for human health and a basic right of human beings, and that changes in diets accompanying lifestyle changes in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, led to the spread of unhealthy dietary patterns that resulted in Increased levels of obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases, decreased levels of lactation and micronutrient deficiencies.”
In turn, the Head of the Nutrition Department at the Ministry of Health, Engineer Rawhia Barham, presented the multiple axes of the strategy that was developed based on scientific studies that dealt with the current nutritional situation in the Kingdom and guided by the regional and global goals of nutrition.
–(Petra)