Nutrition

The challenge

Malnutrition in all its forms remains a public health challenge in The Gambia. Many children, especially those in rural areas, are poorly nourished. Malnutrition is linked to several issues, ranging from institutional arrangements, shortfall in domestic resources, to challenges related to the quality-of-service delivery. Some of the issues highlighted relate to inadequate staffing, insufficient and unpredictable funding, need for stronger coordination of nutrition activities, the inadequate capacity and high attrition rates within the public sector partners impacting on both the coverage and quality of services. In addition, caregivers have limited knowledge on nutrient-rich foods as recommended by the Infant and Young Child Feeding guidelines. Children are mainly fed with high carbohydrate foods such as millet or corn flour porridge. Often, foods that are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals are Inadequate in the diet.

These highlighted issues leading to malnutrition require various approaches and concerned efforts to address the nutritional problem of young children.

The solution

While malnutrition remains a problem, there has been considerable reduction in the number of malnourished children over the past years. Exclusive breastfeeding practice has improved from 47% to 54% and childhood malnutrition, stunting decreased from 25% to 18%, wasting reduced from 9% to 5%, and underweight lowered from 15% to 12%.

To ensure efficiency and sustainability, UNICEF supports the Government of The Gambia maintain relevant policy environment, programme strategies and proven interventions to improve nutrition outcomes for children. A key strategy is the integration of nutrition into the primary health care services across communities in The Gambia.

UNICEF supports the government in coordinating nutrition efforts and advocates for increased government commitment and public funding for nutrition. Through system strengthening, our work enhances community resilience, enabling young children to receive nutritious diets and caregivers adopt optimal infant and young child feeding practices. When malnutrition prevention fails, we support the government in providing adequate care for malnourished children through the provision of lifesaving nutrition supplies, capacity building for healthcare providers, and health system strengthening.