The government has commended the USAID Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Assistance (SUN-TA) project and the International Development Enterprise (IDE) for the various nutrition interventions they are implementing to reduce stunting in Central Province.
Provincial Permanent Secretary, Milner Mwanakampwe has noted that interventions such as livestock rearing, community loan savings groups, agriculture input support and many others being supported by the two organisations through the first 1000 Most Critical Days Programme (MCDP II) aimed at reducing stunting in children aged below two years are bearing fruits.
Mr. Mwanakampwe who is also the Provincial Nutrition Coordinating Committee (PNCC) Chairperson, said the interventions are helping in raising incomes, food security and supplementing the nutritional needs of households.
He further observed that the nutrition interventions targeting children under two years, expectant and lactating mothers and women of reproductive age have greatly helped in reducing stunting levels in the area.
The PS said this in Kapiri Mposhi during the PNCC nutrition stakeholder mapping exercise and monitoring of various nutrition interventions being implemented by the two organisations through various line government ministries in the district.
” What SUN-TA and IDE are doing in Central Province is something very commendable because it complements government’s efforts of supporting households’ nutritional needs to reduce stunting which is still high in the province and to improve the wellbeing of the people,” Mr Mwanakampwe said.
Mr. Mwanakampwe has since called SUN-TA and IDE to expand their operations to other districts in the province as they are currently only in Kapiri Mposhi, Chibombo, Mumbwa and Kabwe districts.
” As government, we really feel indebted to the two organisations especially with what they are doing but we feel they should also extend this to other especially more rural districts where stunting and malnutrition levels are higher otherwise stuntedness should be fought tenaciously and we think that this battle will be won,” he said.
And Kapiri Mposhi District Nutrition Coordinating Committee (DNCC) Chairman, Kanyata Muchula disclosed that through the nutrition interventions, the district has recorded a reduction in the stunting prevalence levels among children aged under two years from 34.5 percent in 2020 to 30.5 percent based on the current baseline.
Meanwhile, PNCC Co-ordinator, Sylvester Mwale has called for the mapping of all nutrition stakeholders in Kapiri Mposhi to avoid duplication of interventions.
Mr. Mwale noted that there is need to ensure that partners do not target the same beneficiaries to ensure a wider coverage and impact of nutrition interventions to combat malnutrition in the area.
“We have noticed that stakeholders are capturing the same people with same interventions and targeting the same areas of operations, but this can be avoided to ensure that we cover more beneficiaries,” Mr. Mwale said.
He has since called on the Kapiri Mposhi Coordinating Committee to create a data base of stakeholders to prevent duplication of interventions targeting the same beneficiaries.
USAID SUN-TA project and IDE are supporting nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions aimed addressing both immediate determinants and underlying causes of malnutrition in children under the age of two years in four selected districts in the province.
The multi-sectoral programme involves working with different line ministries along four themes that include agriculture and livelihood, Water, Sanitation and Health (WASH) as well as Health and Nutrition.
Surely, so many years after independence, this should not be talked about?
Just a thought.