3rd national nutrition symposium

3rd national nutrition symposium


The National Nutrition Symposium is coming at a time when the country is facing the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic and hence the symposium will be held virtually. The role of good nutrition in management of COVID-19 has been evident in treatment outcomes and therefore, the symposium will provide an opportunity to dialogue on the role of nutrition in COVID 19 management and modalities for enhancing dissemination of nutrition information.

The Kenya Nutrition Action Plan 2018-2022 and its Monitoring & Evaluation Framework will be launched and disseminated with an aim of rallying the various stakeholders (Health, Agriculture,Livestock, Fisheries & Cooperatives; Education; Labour & Social Protection; and Devolution & ASAL; county governments and partners) to take up their role in accelerating and scaling up efforts towards the elimination of malnutrition. Strategies and technical guidelines on Maternal, Infant & Young Child Nutrition and prevention & control of micronutrient deficiencies will also be unveiled and disseminated.

As a demonstration of multisectoral collaboration, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives will launch the Kenya Agri-Nutrition Strategy (2020-2024) which is aligned to the KNAP. Additionally, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (SBN) will unveil its SBN Strategic Plan 2019-2023. The commitment by county governments is also evident as the counties are at various stages in the development of county specific nutrition action plan aligned to the KNAP. Five counties have already launched their plans while 18 counties are at the final stage of development of the nutrition plans.

Background

Nutrition is a major building block in the foundation of optimal growth, development and overall human wellbeing. However, malnutrition and poor diets are ranked the number one driver of the global burden of preventable diseases and are therefore a development challenge and a threat to achieving global and national social economic goals. The underlying causes of malnutrition are multidimensional and have been identified as insufficient access to food, poor health services, lack of safe water and sanitation, and inadequate child and maternal care.

Kenya is currently experiencing a triple burden of malnutrition, with co-existence of undernutrition, over nutrition, and mineral and vitamin deficiencies. According to KDHS 2014, out of 7.22 million children under five years, nearly 1.9 million are stunted (26%); 290,000 are wasted (4%); 794,200 (11%) are underweight, and 290,000 (4%) are overweight or obese.

Furthermore, there are geographical and social-demographic variations in severity of malnutrition. Out of the 47 counties, 11 (23%) have prevalence of stunting above 30%, a level categorized as "very high" according to the World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds. Additionally, close to a quarter (23.1%) of the population suffer from anaemia with the situation being worse among pregnant women where 41.6% are anaemic (KNMS 2011). Over a quarter (27.9%) of adults are either overweight or obese with women being most affected at 38.5% (Kenya Steps Survey 2015). 

To register for the first session click here and to register for the second day session (first part, from 8:30 to 1:00), click here. To register for the second day session (second part, from 10:40 to 1:00), click here. To register for the second day session (third part, from 2:00 to 4:00), click here.