Eating your way to better health!

─ GRAIN-H project launched

─ Project geared to help persons improve their nutritional intake!

DPI, Guyana, Monday, September 23, 2019

In keeping with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Regional Democratic Council of Demerara Mahaica’s Health Service programme, launched the GRAIN-H project.

The unveiling was held at the Herdmanston Lodge in Queenstown where Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, with responsibility for Rural Affairs, Hon. Valerie Adams-Yearwood delivered the keynote address.

“Guyana Re-aligning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition & Health, or GRAIN-H to paraphrase that concept, is a welcome convergence of ideas to address the objectives of the agriculture and health sectors. it was a demonstration of the sound and cogent direction that your government has set out for the development of this country that has seen these sectors recognizing where collaboration might allow for the achievement of unique successes for the benefit of our citizens.”

This vision was shared by Dr. Quincy Jones from the Regional Democratic Council of Region 4’s Health Department, who revealed his vision for the creation of a curriculum as well as facilities to demonstrate to and educate the participants of the various health clinics under his purview.

Participants in the project will be drawn from the Geriatrics, Antenatal and NCD clinics. They will be taught to view food as their medicine both in terms of its nutritional content as well as how it is prepared and consumed to ensure that it is healthy.

They will be given guidance on improving their nutrition through the growth, preparations and consumption of healthy and wholesome foods. This will be done by providing them with the training to establish and maintain their own kitchen gardens at home.

The Ministry of Public Health, with the Technical Support of the Ministry of Agriculture, will establish demonstration Kitchen Garden Plots at all participating health centres in the project. They will allow for the demonstration of the various crops that could be grown and used to have a positive bearing on the nutritional needs of the participants.

The project will undergo a pilot period lasting up to December of this year.

Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Gillian Smith, gave her endorsement of the project.

“This is the kind of initiative that can help persons to think more purposefully, and make more radical and drastic changes in their consumption patterns, in the consumption patterns of their families, in the consumption patterns of our communities and the consumption patterns of our nation. By helping people to utilise more healthy foods, more locally produced, fresh foods we are helping ourselves and we are helping the nation to ensure that we maintain a productive and healthy population”

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