National Assembly Chambers
By Ramatoulie Jawo
Members of the National Assembly on Monday considered the Nutrition Bill 2024 introduced by His Excellency the Vice President of The Gambia, Muhammed BS Jallow.
The Bill has successfully passed its first and second readings and is currently in the consideration stage. It is scheduled for its third reading on Friday, September 27, 2024, after which it is expected to be passed.
The primary objective of the Bill is to uphold the Government’s commitment to protecting the rights of Gambians as outlined in the 1997 Constitution and various United Nations Conventions and Declarations related to food and nutrition security, to which The Gambia is a signatory.
Additionally, the Bill aims to enhance the coordination of all nutrition-related interventions in the country by legally empowering the Agency to carry out this function.
The Bill also proposes the establishment of a Board of Directors to oversee the Agency’s operations. It grants the Agency the authority to inspect hospitals, healthcare institutions, schools, care homes, prisons, and other relevant establishments to ensure that the nutritional needs of individuals in these institutions are met.
Vice President Jallow emphasized that this Bill will enable the government to meet the nutritional requirements of some of the most vulnerable groups, while also strengthening governance structures such as the National Nutrition Council and the Nutrition Technical Advisory Committee.
“To further achieve this commitment by the Government it has necessitated the holistic approach for reviewing the food Act which gives the agency the roles to act as the lead agency in handling nutritional issues coupled with the wordings in the National Nutrition Policy and to come up with a comprehensive legislation to address the issues of nutrition as envisaged by the government pronouncement to make available the resources as well as empower institutions to better handle nutrition issues for a better livelihood of its people,” he stated.