All hands on deck: Reducing stunting through multisectoral efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa
This book (PDF) by Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) and the World Bank Group lays the groundwork for more effective multisectoral action by analysing and generating emperical evidence to inform the joint targeting of nutrition-sensitive interventions. In Sub-Saharan Africa the numbers of undernutrition is high. Poor diets in terms of diversity, quality and quantity, combined with illness and poor water and sanitatin facilities are linked with deficiencies of micronutrients, associated with growth, development and immune function. The determinants of undernutrition are multisectoral, therefore the solution requires a multisectoral approach. An acceleration of the progress to reduce stunting in Sub-Saharan Africa requires engaging many sectors, including health, agriculture, education, social protection and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to improve nutrition. One fundamental ingredient of a successful strategy is the scale-up of interventions by agriculture (food security), health care, and WASH that are jointly targeted to geographic areas with high prevalence of stunting. The adoption of a governance and accountability structure that provides the right incentives to all actors involved is the other fundamental ingredient of a successful multisectoral strategy. In the book, measures are constructed to capture a child’s access to food security, care practices, health care and WASH, to identify gaps in access among different socioeconomic groups; and to relate access to these nutrition drives to nutrition outcomes. The book aims to provide country authorities with a holistic picture of the gaps in access to the drivers of nutrition within countries, to assisst them in the formulation of a more informed, evidence-based, and balanced multisectoral strategy against undernutrition.