Mozambique: Children, Food Security and Nutrition in Mozambique
Rising food prices in Mozambique have pushed vulnerable households towards coping strategies that can irreversibly impoverish families and children. More than 40% of children under the age of five are stunted due to chronic illness and poor diet, and nearly one in five is underweight. This Joint Programme used short-term and medium/long-term interventions to reduce the impact of rising food prices and to improve the health, nutritional and food security of children.
Short-term interventions built on already existing programmes -- such as supplementary feeding programmes, management of severe malnutrition and improved nutrition education programmes -- by strengthening and scaling them up.
Medium- and long-term interventions aimed at providing technical support to the Ministry of Health in its nutrition data collection efforts, building capacity of the Ministry of Health for continuous monitoring, and regular evaluation of the intervention results.
The implementation strategy of the programme had the following objectives:
- Establish an effectively functioning and expanded system to treat severely and moderately malnourished children in programme areas;
- Create an effective way of delivering key preventative interventions to children under 5;
- Establish an effectively functioning and expanded system to promote improved and diversified diets and knowledge on nutrition included in infant and young child feeding.
Its main achievements were:
- Supplementary feeding programmes were implemented in 50 districts.
- The programme included trainings of trainers on the new malnutrition protocol, on-the-job training in selected districts and the provision of materials to health centers nationwide, which resulted in an upgrade of selected health facilities.
- The Nutritional Rehabilitation programme reached almost 50,000 malnourished children in 2011.
- Training in horticulture and nutrition covered more than 11,000 households and 370 activists in 5 NGOs in the municipalities of Maputo and Nampula.
- The tree planting intervention, in line with “one child one tree” promoted by the government, reached 10 communities/schools. 10% of all trees went to schools with a poor success rate and the rest to households with pregnant or abandoned women.
- Three training of trainers on Infant and Young Child Feeding took place in the north, center and south of the country.
- The initial training of trainers took place for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, which promotes exclusive breastfeeding.
Click for more detailed results from the Joint Programmes in Mozambique.