8% of school-age children undernourished: Report

A recent report from UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) has highlighted concerning statistics regarding childhood nutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa, revealing that approximately 8% of children aged five to 19 years are underweight, while 11% are overweight or obese. The report, titled Accelerating Progress for School-age Children and Adolescents Through Integrated School Health and Nutrition Programming, underscores the pressing challenges of malnutrition and obesity faced by school-age children and adolescents, particularly in rural areas.

The report, which examined Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Malawi as case studies, found that undernutrition is particularly prevalent in low-income and rural areas. The primary cause is identified as limited access to diverse and nutritious food, with many children relying on monotonous, plant-based diets consisting primarily of cereals, roots, and tubers, which are low in essential animal-source foods. In addition to poor diets, inadequate access to health, water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and nutrition services exacerbates the situation.

However, the report also highlights the growing problem of overweight and obesity, particularly in urban areas, as a result of economic development and the globalisation of food supply chains. These urban diets are increasingly characterized by unhealthy, ultra-processed foods, contributing to rising obesity rates among children and adolescents.

A significant concern is the micronutrient deficiencies affecting adolescent girls, who are found to suffer from iron and calcium deficiencies due to poor-quality diets and higher dietary requirements during puberty.

In response to these challenges, UNICEF and WFP have been supporting governments in the region since 2022 to develop national school nutrition guidelines. The goal is to promote a sustainable package of nutrition and health services in primary and secondary schools, ultimately enhancing children's health, development, and learning outcomes.

The report outlines several initiatives that have been implemented to address these challenges. The packages include nutrition screening, micronutrient supplementation, deworming, school meals through the home-grown school feeding (HGSF) approach, nutrition education, and efforts to promote healthier school environments and physical activity.

Additionally, the agencies have involved adolescents in the development of the guidelines, conducting consultative workshops to help design social and behavior change (SBC) messages that resonate with young people. This engagement is based on the principle "nothing for us without us," emphasizing the importance of including youth in the design of programs that affect them.

WFP has been supporting the government in scaling up the HGSF approach, while UNICEF piloted the health and nutrition aspects of the guidelines in Makoni district in 2022. The lessons learned from this pilot are being used to shape the national program, which is now being rolled out in 18 of Zimbabwe's 63 districts.

The agencies have called on governments to continue integrating school health and nutrition approaches and to engage with stakeholders across various sectors to support converged programming that addresses the complex issue of child malnutrition and obesity.

Both UNICEF and WFP emphasize the need for policy reform to improve school food environments and promote healthier eating habits among schoolchildren, as part of the broader effort to combat malnutrition in all its forms.