Ethiopia: National Nutrition Programme / MDG-F Joint Programme

While there has been improvement in nutrition among children under 5 in Ethiopia, the rate of progress must improve if Ethiopia is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving by 2015 the number of people who suffer from hunger. The Ethiopian government has developed a National Nutrition Strategy and National Nutrition Programme, which form the framework for the MDG-F Joint Programme.

The Joint Programme has four components:

1) Creating sustainable out-patient services at the community level to treat children with severe acute malnutrition;

2) Improving caring and feeding practices of children and mothers through Community-Based Nutrition interventions;

3) Improving the production and use of locally-available complementary food; and

4) Strengthening the nutrition information system and M&E mechanisms.

The joint programme uses the existing decentralized service delivery structure and the multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms at the federal, regional, woreda (district) and kebele (neighborhood) levels established by the National Nutrition Programme.