Food consumption and nutrition

The coastal region is a net importer of food. Under these conditions, household food security can still be realized thanks to non-farm income. Yet, for a sizeable portion of the population food security is not assured. Furthermore, the current food pattern, which relies heavily on maize and cassava, is lacking in dietary quality and variety. This results in nutritional problems among the population which are partly hidden, but which surface most clearly among vulnerable groups such as women and children. While these problems are the corrollary of poverty and ill health, they can be partly prevented by appropriate caring behaviour. This is both an individual and a community responsibility. While the nutritional problems are very serious, there are also signs of hope and of 'resilience'. In the 1990s the level of chronic malnutrition in the Coast had for the first time started to go down.