§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action she is taking to ensure children attending schools in Southern Africa are provided with a nutritional meal during their day's work. [84637]
§ Clare ShortWe are funding food through the World Food programme to vulnerable groups in Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As part of these food pipelines, WFP is providing special support to school age children in Malawi and Lesotho to help ensure continued school attendance. WFP is also targeting malnourished children in Malawi with a programme of selective supplementary feeding. In Zimbabwe, WFP is planning to provide high-energy biscuits for school children in the worst affected areas. UNICEF is also providing programmes for supplementary and therapeutic feeding in the region, and is helping to target child-headed households and orphans for humanitarian assistance.
856WIn addition, in Zimbabwe, DFID has been funding NGOs to provide supplementary feeding for children since September 2001. In October 2002, NGOs funded by DFID provided one protein-fortified maize meal a day for 570,000 under five and primary school children in Zimbabwe. We plan to increase numbers reached to 800,000 each month by the end of the year.