SCN News No 34 - UNSCN

www.unsystem.org/scn WORKING TOGETHER IN COUNTRIES 61
Senegal Nutrition Enhancement Program: making headway towards achieving the MDG targets
In Senegal, malnutrition is recognized as a major obstacle to social and economic
development. Thus, the government has taken on the challenge of working for better nutritional
status of vulnerable groups in an effort to achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). This has already given results in the fight against malnutrition, as the Demographic
and Health Surveys of 1992 and 2005 show a reduction in the prevalence of underweight in
children under five from 20% to 17% (see figure) and stunting from 22% to 16%.
An operational reference framework for all the stakeholders: To achieve these outcomes, the Government of
Senegal developed a nutrition policy letter which effectively served as a reference framework for all actors engaged in
the fight against malnutrition. The policy letter had strong links with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the MDGs
and with the establishment by decree in 2001 of the Cellule de Lutte contre la Malnutrition (CLM, National Committee for
the Fight against Malnutrition). This committee, headed by the Prime Minister, is made up of representatives of all the
key sectors that influence nutrition and health. It aims at reducing malnutrition and strengthening child health through
multisectoral actions.
Broad consultation and social mobilization as a success factor: What's more, in 2002, the government launched
the Nutrition Enhancement Program (NEP). This program will run up to 2015 which is the year that MDG targets should
have been reached. The NEP goals are to improve the nutritional status of populations, in particular the growth of
children under the age of two residing in poor urban and rural areas, and to strengthen the organizational capacity of the
country’s institutions to implement, monitor and evaluate the national policy on nutrition. NEP is funded by the
government with support of donors such as the World Bank, UNICEF, WFP, Micronutrient Initiative and German
cooperation (KFW). Implementation is based on a wide consultation and mobilization of all the stakeholders, including
line ministries, local governments, the civil society and development partners which are engaged in child survival
actions. Another feature of the NEP is the “learning by doing” approach brought about through sub-projects contracted
out to NGOs that were selected through a transparent process on the basis of their implementing capacities of
community nutrition projects.
NEP Phase 1: During the first phase, NGOs developed various innovative social mobilization
strategies such as: grand-mothers’ groups, pregnant women’s support groups, religious group based
interventions and positive deviance approaches. The program covers 15% of children under five
living in the country and has shown impressive results: underweight rate was reduced by 62% in two
years, exclusive breastfeeding rate increased from 30% to 58%, and children sleeping under bed net
increased from 28% to 59%. The first phase of NEP was rated highly satisfactory by the World Bank.
However, to attain the MDG targets by 2015, major efforts are still required to meet the challenge of
reducing national levels of underweight all the way to 10%. For that purpose, the Government of
Senegal and the development partners
have renewed their commitment to better
work together during the two remaining
phases of NEP in order to fulfil the vision
of CLM of Senegal as “a country where
each and every person has a satisfactory
nutritional status and adopts behaviours,
which contribute to his/her well-being and
to the development of the community”.
From 1992 to 2005, malnutrition prevalence has decreased from 20% to 17%, the
country is on track but the decrease rate is not sufficient to reach MDGs in 2015.
Contact:
Biram Ndiaye, PhD, MPH
National Coordinator, CLM
National Committee for the
Fight Against Malnutrition
Prime Minister Office, Dakar, Senegal
Email : bndiaye@clm.sn
Web: www.clm.sn
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