Distel Zola, a former Congolese international footballer, has been named a top advocate for healthy meals and better nutrition in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goals of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) are ambitious: to reach 500,000 students this year with school meals. The goal is to alleviate malnutrition and food insecurity affecting the country. The DRC faces an extremely difficult food situation, with nearly 26 million people facing food insecurity. Children are particularly affected, with 45% of deaths of children under five being linked to malnutrition.
The WFP has partnered with Distel Zola for the influence and awareness of healthy and varied food. The athlete believes that a healthy and varied diet is important for performance. For these reasons, he agreed to work alongside the WFP to help and educate young people in the country. This Distel Zola initiative is part of its vision to help, train and raise public awareness.
WFP wants to invest in building the skills of breastfeeding mothers to improve their knowledge of care and feeding practices. It is also planned to provide nutritious food and propose the development of sustainable agriculture to make the country self-sufficient in food.
The former footballer believes that it is important to provide solutions so that the Congolese know how to feed themselves and cultivate the land in the event that the WFP is no longer there to help them. In this context, he intends to go to the provinces to develop farms, school canteens, etc. The task is big and complex, and Distel Zola is the perfect choice to help raise awareness. Indeed, he played for Monaco as a teenager, and his career then took him to France, Turkey and the United States. He represented the DRC national team, “Les Leopards”, at international level.
WFP needs US$285 million to meet growing humanitarian demands over the next six months. It is therefore more necessary than ever to join forces to help the DRC emerge from this difficult situation and to prevent millions of additional people from falling into extreme food insecurity.