sowm_2015__int__africa_full_report_low_res

affordable for the urban poor. Investments are
needed, therefore, to develop innovative and
scalable models or approaches that address the
specific challenges to reaching the urban poor
with basic preventive and curative services.
3. Following through on the 2012 globally
agreed World Health Assembly nutrition
targets and ensure that commitments made
through initiatives such as Nutrition for
Growth are met. Malnutrition is the underlying
cause of 45 percent of deaths of children under
5, leading to over 3 million deaths each year,
800,000 of which occur among newborn babies.
The locus of poverty and undernutrition among
children appears to be gradually shifting from
rural to urban areas, as the number of the poor
and undernourished increases more quickly in
urban than in rural areas. Child stunting and
wasting are equally prevalent in poor urban
settings as in rural settings. Breastfeeding in
some poor urban settings is lower than in rural
areas due to lack of knowledge and education.
Attention in particular must be given to addressing
stunting, wasting and low percentage of
breastfeeding.
a. Meet the World Health Assembly nutrition
targets. In 2012, all member nations of the
World Health Organization endorsed six nutrition
targets, including reducing stunting by 40
percent by 2025, increasing the rate of exclusive
breastfeeding in the first 6 months to at least
50 percent and to reducing and maintaining
childhood wasting to less than 5 percent. All
governments must be working towards meeting
these six nutrition targets.
b. Meet the Nutrition for Growth commitments.
In 2013, at the Nutrition for Growth
conference hosted in London, governments
agreed to reduce malnutrition by 2020 in the
following ways:
• Ensure that at least 500 million pregnant
women and children under 2 are reached with
effective nutrition interventions.
• Prevent at least 20 million children under 5
from being stunted.
• Save at least 1.7 million lives by reducing
stunting, increasing breastfeeding and treating
severe acute malnutrition.
c. Scaling up nutrition plans should include
addressing malnutrition in urban settings.
Over 50 countries are now part of the Scaling
Up Nutrition Movement. A number of these
countries have costed nutrition plans, including
countries with high urban child survival gaps
such as Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Nigeria.
These costed plans should be reviewed to ensure
that the plans include interventions to address
malnutrition among the urban poor, including
an emphasis on wasting, exclusive breastfeeding
and stunting.
4. Developing comprehensive and crosssectoral
urban plans. National governments
must develop and invest in integrated, crosssectoral
urban policies, strategies, and plans that
include maternal, newborn and child health
(MNCH) and nutrition as well as investments
in other dimensions such as improved access to
clean water and sanitation and improving the
nutritional status of women and children. This
includes solid waste management. Health plans
should include and/or link to early childhood
development efforts, linking early cognitive
development and primary education.
National and local urban plans must include
gender- and child-sensitive social protection
programs that are accessible to the urban poor.
Increasing the income of mothers and children
will ensure they will be able to afford more and
better quality foods as well as health services
and medicine, including modern forms of
contraception.
Cities should have policies and programs that
support the economic empowerment of women
and adolescent girls. Ensuring that women and
girls can earn a living wage is a cornerstone to
improved health and to self-determination.
Urban plans should include provisions
for improving housing situations, including
52 Take Action Now for the Urban Poor