DUSHANBE (TCA) — The United States government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced a new health and nutrition program that will operate in Tajikistan’s western Khatlon Province.
U.S. Ambassador Elisabeth Millard, Deputy of Khatlon Khukumat Mahfirat Khidirzoda, and First Deputy Minister of Health and Social Protection of Tajikistan Saida Umarzoda last week officially opened the new Feed the Future Tajikistan Health and Nutrition Activity, which aims to improve health and nutrition of women and children in western Khatlon, the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan said.
As part of Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Tajikistan joins a broad international effort to transform lives toward a world where people no longer face extreme poverty, undernutrition, or hunger. Feed the Future Tajikistan Health and Nutrition Activity will improve integrated healthcare at the family, community, clinical and national levels to promote improved maternal, newborn, and child health, with a particular focus on nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene.
Funded by USAID, this five-year activity will build the capacity of health workers in maternal and child health; reach out to communities through community health educators and village development committees to promote food preservation, household budgeting, backyard gardening, and essential hygiene; and participate in review and update of national policies on maternal and child health.
Feed the Future is the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth and trade that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and undernutrition.
