45 children under the age of five died from malnutrition-related conditions in the Omaheke Region this year.

The Health Director, Jeremia Shikulo, said the region has recorded 132 cases of malnutrition since January.

In a telephone interview with the nbc News team, Shikulo revealed that malnutrition has become a concern in the region owing to a lack of proper diet.

Shikulo added that despite the increase in malnutrition cases, the region's team is also working tirelessly to remedy the situation with soup kitchens and community gardens.

"We provide ready-to-use therapeutic food to severely malnourished children, and secondly, we are ready to assist with the use of supplementary food that we usually provide to children that have moderate malnutrition. We also come up with a project kitchen and garden, and we have identified children, and we also teach our caretaker how to prepare food and backyard gardens."

The Regional Health Director says that the ministry has also introduced various programmes on awareness, such as health education on nutrition and food preparation.

The Governor of Omaheke, Pijoo Nganate, assured that key stakeholders are working towards finding solutions to curb malnutrition among the affected households.

"Poverty in the urban area is a reality; we cannot hide away from it. Unemployment is an issue, and hunger is an issue that is confronting our people, but the government has pledged that no one should die from hunger. The new food rolled out by the government since the 1st of July will also go a long way in fighting hunger and the issue of malnutrition in general. We have established soup kitchens all around Gobabis and Drimiopsis and are provided with food basically on a daily to weekly basis to ensure that no child will lose their lives in the Omaheke region."

The governor also implored community members to set up backyard gardens for food security reasons.