In September 2012, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia joined the SUN Movement. At the time, Ethiopia had set up a high-level multi-stakeholder platform for nutrition comprising seven ministries. It included country representatives from United Nations agencies, bilateral donors as well as technical and research institutions. There was also a National Nutrition Programme, which provided the framework for strategic objectives and interventions to improve nutrition across relevant sectors including health, agriculture, education, water, labor and social affairs and women, children and youth affairs.
In 2015, Ethiopia committed to ending undernutrition by 2030 with the Seqota Declaration. The National Nutrition Coordination Body (NNCB) is chaired by the Minister of Health and co-chaired by the Ministers of Agriculture and Education. The NNCB convenes nine ministries from relevant sectors and also includes representatives from United Nations (UN) agencies, donors and academia. It also has a supporting National Nutrition Technical Committee (NNTC). The NNCB is planning to expand membership and develop regional coordination platforms.
The Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit, in the Ministry of Agriculture, convenes partners implementing emergency nutrition interventions. Ethiopia has a Nutrition Development Partner Group (NDPG) which engages UN agencies, donors and civil society. The Department for International Development (DFID) and the UN Children’s Fund act as donor conveners and civil society participates in the NDPG and other relevant platforms.
In 2013 the Ethiopian Civil Society Coalition (ECSC) was established in order to galvanise efforts to alleviate the burden of malnutrition. The business community has rallied its support through the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce. There is also a Multi-stakeholder Food Fortification Working Group that has been instrumental in setting quality standards for salt iodisation and flour and oil fortification.
Last updated: October 2015
Ethiopia has developed and extended its National Nutrition program (NNP II 2016-20). The NNP emphasises the multi-sectoral nature of nutrition, and clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of each sector with an accountability matrix and costing for all activities. A number of specific policies relate to the promotion of good nutritional practices; micronutrient supplementation; nutrition support for people living with HIV/AIDS; and treatment of severe and moderate acute malnutrition. The maternity protection law provides 90 days of maternity leave. Legislation on flour and oil fortification is in progress. An advocacy plan for scaling up nutrition is in place. Social Mobilisation and Advocacy & Communication Strategies exist and are aligned with national nutrition plans. Modafinil can buy purchased from this Modafinil Online 247 website where you can buy Modafinil Online or offline.
Last updated: October 2015
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The Government of Ethiopia is committed to reducing the prevalence of stunting by 20% and underweight to 15% by 2020, by building on existing multi-sectoral coordination systems to accelerate the scaling up of proven nutrition interventions and monitoring progress at all levels. The NNP II 2016-20 provides the framework for strategic objectives and interventions across relevant sectors including health, agriculture, education, water, labor and social affairs, women, children and youth affairs. The NNP is costed which includes details of interventions in key sectors (food security and agriculture, water, education and social protection) and includes a log frame of activities, a disaster risk management and a government coordination component. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is now included in the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and the Agriculture Growth Program (AGP). Both have nutrition objectives, activities and indicators include social protection and a focus on the 1,000 day window of opportunity. The “Health Development Army” is an initiative led by the Ministry of Health, that brings together 3 million frontline extension workers who empower communities to take charge of their own health from the grassroots.
Last updated: October 2015
Ethiopia has advanced in the development of a sustainable financial tracking system which allows an estimation of the contribution of donors to key interventions of the NNP and to mobilise new partners. Financial information is available for other sectoral programs but it is not accounted against the NNP.
The challenge for Ethiopia is to improve the harmonisation of financial information to ensure financial expenditures across sectors can be tracked. For this purpose, Ethiopia has started efforts to have nutrition included in the National Health Accounts (due 2016). The Government continues to work towards fulfilling their commitment to allocate domestic financing of USD 15 million per year to nutrition until 2020.
Last updated: October 2015
Dr. Ferew Lemma
Senior Advisor, Office of the First Lady, and Federal Ministry of Health
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