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FW: Eldis Nutrition Reporter - Malnutrition amidst plenty, community engagement for CMAM, investing in nutrition in Zambia, the state of food insecurity 2014

 

 

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Eldis Nutrition and Development Reporter

16 October 2014
http://www.eldis.org/nutrition/

This is our regular bulletin that highlights recent publications on nutrition and development issues.

The documents are available without charge on the web. If you are unable to access any of these materials online and would like to receive a copy of a document as an email attachment, please contact our editor at the email address given below.

In this issue:

 

  1. Malnutrition amidst plenty: An assessment of factors responsible for persistent high levels of childhood stunting in food secure western Uganda
  2. Community Engagement: the ‘C’ at the heart of CMAM
  3. Seizing the Opportunity to Sustain Economic Growth by Investing in Nutrition in Zambia
  4. The state of food insecurity in the World 2014: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition

Malnutrition amidst plenty: An assessment of factors responsible for persistent high levels of childhood stunting in food secure western Uganda

Authors: J.K,Kikafunda; E.,Agaba; A.,Bambona
Produced by: African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (2014)

In spite of favourable natural and human resource capacity, malnutrition remains an important health and welfare problem in Uganda especially among children below 5 years. Western Uganda has persistently registered highest levels of childhood malnutrition despite being referred to as “the food basket” of the country.

This study sought to establish the causes of persistent child undernutrition to guide design of effective nutritional policies and interventions. This was a cross -sectional study that used both quantitative and qualitative methods.

The major causes of stunting were:

  • improper health and sanitation
  • poor child feeding practices
  • poor access to appropriate knowledge for health and nutrition
  • poor socio-economic variables of access to food
  • type of employment
  • distance to main roads and markets
  • housing facility
  • income flow regime
  • gender disparities
  • access to fuel for cooking.

Overall, there is low intake of animal protein and generally constrained access to adequate amount of food required for normal growth and development. At multivariate level, the main risk factors included; lack of information on child health feeding, socio-economic capacity of household, poor hygiene practices, and preparation of special foods for children.

Results suggest that more emphasis needs to be put on community nutrition and health education with a focus on diet, hygiene, sanitation, social –economic and livelihood programs, improvement of health care services and diversification of interventions especially into poverty alleviation programs with a nutrition focus.


Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69446

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Community Engagement: the ‘C’ at the heart of CMAM

Authors: Gray,N.; Bedford,J.; Deconinck,H.; Brown,R.
Produced by: Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) Forum (2014)

The aim of this CMAM Forum Technical Brief is to summarise evidence, good practice and lessons learned on community engagement for CMAM and other relevant health interventions.

It summarises the role of community engagement and how it can be strengthened in the context of government - led health interventions.

The brief has three main sections:

  • defining community and community engagement in CMAM
  • challenges and constraints to effective community engagement in CMAM
  • pathways to more effective community engagement.

It concludes by summarising key considerations which need to be addressed in repositioning community engagement in CMAM:

  • prioritising community engagement for CMAM as part of community system strengthening of MCH services
  • developing up-to-date guidance for community engagement for CMAM
  • integrating community engagement for CMAM as part of MCH with other community interventions, services and initiatives
  • allocation of sustainable funding
  • ensuring well managed adequately trained and motivated health and community actors for strengthened community involvement and ownership
  • strengthening skills and expertise
  • involving community groups and networks
  • utilising informal health service providers and community networks
  • organisational capacity strengthening
  • optimising appropriate and innovative information and communication sharing
  • strengthening monitoring and reporting
  • evaluation, sharing of experiences and best practices.


Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69330

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Seizing the Opportunity to Sustain Economic Growth by Investing in Nutrition in Zambia

Authors: Harris,J.; Haddad,L.; Seco Grutz,S.
Produced by: Institute of Development Studies UK (2014)

This IDS Policy Briefing is based on the IDS Special Collection 'Turning Rapid Growth into Meaningful Growth: Sustaining the Commitment to Nutrition in Zambia'.


It is to the credit of the Zambian leadership and the development community that a great deal of momentum for nutrition has been built in the past few years. The level of undernutrition in Zambia is high and persistent, with almost one in every two children stunted for their age. In June 2013 the Zambian Government pledged to cut this rate by half over the next ten years. The challenge now is to turn that momentum into increased, and more equitable, programme coverage, improved quality of service delivery and a wider set of nutrition-sensitive interventions that support nutrition. While government buy-in and effort are necessary, they are not sufficient; undernutrition reduction requires a concerted cross-sectoral effort, including civil society, researchers, the private sector, the media and international development partners. The current strong economic growth in Zambia can be used as a positive driver to improve nutrition and therefore improve long-term human development and economic productivity.

Key policy recommendations the Government of Zambia and stakeholders should consider are the following:

  • staple food production is not enough
  • water, sanitation and health services matter greatly
  • empowerment of women
  • tracking and coordination of human and financial resources across ministries
  • addressing the current capacity gaps
  • channeling increased tax revenues into nutrition
  • using evidence to justify the increase in resources to undernutrition reduction.

 


Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69308

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The state of food insecurity in the World 2014: Strengthening the enabling environment for food security and nutrition

Produced by: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2014)

The latest FAO estimates indicate that the trend in global hunger reduction continues. About 805 million people were estimated to be chronically undernourished in 2012–14, down by more than 100 million over the last decade and by 209 million since 1990–92. However, about one in every nine people in the world still has insufficient food for an active and healthy life. The vast majority of these undernourished people live in developing countries.

Key messages of this report:

·         the hunger target of the Millennium Development Goal 1c (MDG 1c) – of halving the proportion of undernourished people in developing countries by 2015 – is within reach. However, the developing world is not on track to achieve the World Food Summit (WFS) target of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015

·         despite overall progress, marked differences across regions persist. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of undernourishment, with only modest progress in recent years. Asia, the most populous region in the world, still has the highest number of undernourished. Southern Asia has made slow progress in hunger reduction, while more rapid progress has been achieved in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with the latter having already met the WFS hunger target. Latin America and the Caribbean,as a whole, met the MDG1 hunger target while Latin America has achieved the more stringent WFS target.

·         of the 63 developing countries that have achieved the MDG hunger target, 11 countries have maintained the prevalence of undernourishment below 5 percent since 1990–92

·         sustained political commitment at the highest level is a prerequisite for hunger eradication. It entails placing food security and nutrition at the top of the political agenda. Institutional reforms are needed to promote and sustain progress. Regions as well as countries have strengthened their political commitment to food security and nutrition

·         hunger reduction requires an integrated approach, which would include: public and private investments to raise agricultural productivity; better access to inputs, land, services, technologies and markets; measures to promote rural development; social protection for the most vulnerable, including strengthening their resilience to conflicts and natural disasters; and specific nutrition programmes, especially to address micronutrient deficiencies in mothers and children under five


Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69193

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