SUN Movement Coordinator visits Burkina Faso: “Better institutional anchoring for nutrition”

SUN Coordinator meets with President of Burkina Faso in Kossyam

On 29 and 30 April 2019, the Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, Gerda Verburg, made a working visit to Burkina Faso. During her stay, Gerda Verburg held discussions with the political authorities, including the President of Burkina Faso and the president of the National Assembly, and all stakeholders in the SUN Movement in Burkina Faso.

The need for better institutional anchoring to coordinate nutrition was the focus of the discussions, including the audience with the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, on 30 April. During this session, the SUN Coordinator called for “the nomination of a focal point to support the President in coordination, ensuring that donors and all different partners and programs work together with the sole aim of eradicating malnutrition”.

The SUN Coordinator congratulated Burkina Faso on the various nutrition outcomes achieved to date, in spite of security challenges. In particular, she praised President Kaboré’s political commitment as Nutrition Champion within the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN). It will be a major challenge to ensure sustained political will for more coordinated action, improving collaboration between all the different stakeholders and sectors who are making a contribution and having an impact on nutrition.

Much progress is still needed to improve the nutritional situation of Burkina Faso’s population. The WHO STEPS survey 2013 indicated that 13.5% of adults are obese and 4.5% overweight, and that this is rising in major cities.

As for nutritional deficiency, the national anaemia and iodine status survey in 2014 reported anaemia in 61% of non-pregnant women, 72.5% of pregnant women, 67.7% of school-age children and 83% of pre-school children. Progress on these indicators does not point to achievement of the World Health Assembly targets by 2025, or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

However, there is still hope and the country appears to be on the right track.

.@rochkaborepf a reçu en audience, ce matin à Kosyam, @GerdaVerburg coordonnatrice de @SUN_Movement par ailleurs sous-Secrétaire Générale des Nations-Unies #nutrition#BurkinaFaso #Burkina #lwili pic.twitter.com/cPbdJFr2Yj

— Présidence du Faso (@presidencebf) April 30, 2019

• La Coordonnatrice du SUN plaide pour un meilleur ancrage institutionnel de la nutrition – RESONUT Burkina Faso