Nutrition
The first 1,000 days of a child's life offer a unique window of opportunity for preventing undernutrition and its consequences. See how UNICEF targets its actions to this critical period to ensure good nutrition for every child in Cameroon.
- English
- Français
The challenges
In Cameroon, children under the age of five suffer from undernutrition (stunting or wasting), overnutrition (overweight or obesity), and micronutrient deficiencies. These children are not growing well partly because they are not eating the right food to meet their growing and evolving needs and to sustain their optimal growth and development. Additionally, the systems to support and protect their diets, as well as their communities' practices and use of services for better growth, are deficient.
In Cameroon, 60% of infants under the age of 6 months are not exclusively breastfed, and even more seriously, 8% of infants are not breastfed at all.
Over one million children under the age of five are affected by stunting at any given time. This condition prevents them from reaching their full developmental potential and leads to lower educational achievement, reduced work capacity, lower income-earning potential, and increased susceptibility to chronic diseases in adulthood.
The regions most affected by stunting are the Far North, North, Adamawa, and East, with rates of 41.9%, 33.8%, 37.8%, and 35.8% respectively. Stunting disparities exist between different wealth quintiles, urban and rural settings (22.8% in urban areas vs. 38% in rural areas), and different levels of maternal education. Stunting is almost three times higher among children in the poorest quintile at 41.6% compared to those in the wealthiest quintile at 14.3%, and five times higher for children born to mothers with no education (38.8%) compared to those with higher education levels (7.5%).
Micronutrient deficiencies are also a concern. The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 years old is 39%, and it is 18% among pregnant women. Anaemia is common among women aged 15-49 years and among children under five, with nearly 40% of women and 60% of children affected.
The prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia ranges from 12% to 47.4% among children and from 9% to 19.4% among women.
The country's current average annual rate of reduction (AARR) for stunting and other forms of malnutrition is significantly lower than the rate recommended to meet the World Health Assembly (WHA) nutrition target. The target aims to reduce the number of stunted children by 50 per cent by 2025.
The solutions
The vision of the Country Program Development is: "Every girl and boy in Cameroon, including adolescents, should survive, thrive, learn, be protected, and develop their full potential, thus contributing to human capital growth and well-being."
To support the overall CPD vision, the Nutrition program has adopted the following vision:
"By 2030, every child (girl and boy) in Cameroon, especially the most vulnerable, including in emergency contexts, realizes their right to proper nutrition for greater human capital acquisition and economic productivity."
In 2023, the government of Cameroon approved the Multisectoral Plan for the Development of Food in Cameroon 2024-2030. This plan is aligned with the NDS 30 and the achievement of the MDGs, aiming to address the issues related to malnutrition with the support of UNICEF.
UNICEF use a multi-sectoral and system-based approach to achieve measurable nutrition results for children, adolescents, and women:
1. Analyzing the nutrition situation:
- Assess the nutritional status and vulnerabilities of children and women, focusing on gender and other factors.
- Identify barriers, bottlenecks, and opportunities in delivering nutrition services, especially in emergencies.
2. Advocacy for maternal and child nutrition:
- Use evidence to shape policies, engage partners, and increase political and financial commitment to nutrition.
3. Engaging communities:
- Develop communication materials and behaviour change approaches.
- Invest in community systems and capacity building.
4. Strengthening capacity:
- Support training and innovative capacity building for public and private stakeholders.
5. Strengthening supply chains:
- Advocate for essential nutrition supplies and support end-user monitoring mechanisms.
6. Mobilizing financing:
- Analyze funding trends, strengthen budget analysis capacity, and mobilize public and private financing domestically and internationally.
The 1000 Premiers Jours application is an Android application developed for UNICEF Cameroon by CAYSTI, a specialist in technological tools for quality education and health. This platform makes it easier to understand and access nutritional recommendations, and provides women with useful advice on healthy living to help them during the first 1,000 days of their baby's life. The application also provides a complete overview of the various issues that are essential to the life and well-being of the mother, the newborn, and therefore the family.
UNICEF recommends exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months and continued breastfeeding with adequate nutrition until 2 years.