Kenya the only country on target to eliminate malnutrition, new report shows

NAIROBI: Kenya has been feted in an international report for being the only country that is on track to meet all the five global targets in combating malnutrition.

The Global Nutrition Report 2015 that has just been released singles out Kenya as the only country that is making rapid progress in all the targets set by the World Health Organisation for combating malnutrition.

The report asserts that, unlike Kenya, other countries are making progress in only some of the five targets and not all of them.  

Latest data from the Ministry of Health shows that stunting among children less than five years in the country has dropped from 35 per cent in 2008 to an average of 26 per cent currently.

Regarding the second indicator of malnutrition —wasting of body muscles in children— it has also dropped from 7 per cent of children to 4 per cent nationally.

In addition, the proportion of underweight children in the country due to malnutrition declined significantly from 19 percent in 2003 to 11 percent in 2014.

The report also indicated that the country is making progress in controlling increasing incidences of children becoming overweight due to consuming fattening foods that are low on vital nutrients.

In terms of exclusive breastfeeding of children under 6 months, Kenya has also made progress since it has jumped from 32 per cent in 2008 to the current 61 per cent with more mothers breastfeeding their children.

The report was unveiled during the ‘Scaling up Nutrition “conference in Milan, Italy, which included top officials of the United Nations, governments and civil society among other stakeholders to combat malnutrition.

Director of Medical Services Dr Nicholas Muraguri who participated in the nutrition conference said that a number of interventions put in place by the government are paying off in terms of reducing incidences of malnutrition.

Dr Muraguri said among them is the promotion of breastfeeding of children and discouraging the use of breast milk formulas or other breast milk substitutes

Currently, there is a law— Breast milk Substitute Regulation and Control act— that is discouraging the use of infant formulas and other sources of milk to feed babies in the country.

Dr Muraguri added that provision of vitamin and mineral supplements to children and pregnant women in public health facilities as well as mandatory inclusion of vital minerals and vitamins in staple foods such as maize and wheat is also paying off dividends.

He also said that improved response to droughts and the deworming programmes in schools have brought down rates of malnutrition in the country.

“This international recognition is welcome but we need more efforts to combat malnutrition which is still common in some parts of the country especially Northern Kenya,” he said.  

In the 2014 Global Nutrition Report, Kenya was on track for only two of four WHA indicator targets. “Kenya shows that countries can shift from “off course” to “on course” from one survey to the next and reinforces the need for regular surveys to give nutrition champions the feedback they need to frame and guide their work,’ said the report.