On 14 October 2015, the Republic of Sudan joined the SUN Movement with a letter of commitment from the Federal Minister of Health, Mr. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. He shares that the leadership of Sudan is deeply committed to scaling up nutrition investments and whilst considerable progress had been made in some areas including fortification and supplementation, more needed to be done to reduce chronic undernutrition, anaemia, and low birth weight. He shared that the nation is in the process of developing a national nutrition plan that fully embraces both nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions and that a National Council of Food and Nutrition Security had been recently endorsed.
Sudan
Progress
Nutrition situation
38.2%
Under Five Stunting
16.8%
Under Five Wasting
3%
Under Five Overweight
54.6%
0-5 Months Exclusive Breastfeeding
30.7%
Woman Anaemia 15-49 years
7.4%
Adolescent Overweight Male
16.2%
Adolescent Overweight Female
16.6%
Adult Overweight Male
24.4%
Adult Overweight Female
4%
Adult Obesity Male
12.9%
Adult Obesity Female
8.3%
Adult Diabetes Male
9.5%
Adult Diabetes Female
Strategic objectives
- Bringing people together
- Coherent policy and legal framework
- Aligning programs around a Common Results Framework
- Financial tracking and resource mobilization
Sudan has strong mechanisms in place for scaling up nutrition. The established multi-sectoral platform (MSP) for nutrition includes the Higher Council of Food Security and Nutrition, which convenes 13 line ministries, whilst the National Nutrition Programme Office (NNP) of the Ministry of Health is responsible for coordination and reports to the President through the Vice-President and the National Nutrition Committee (NNC). The NCC engages with stakeholders including the private sector, civil society, UN agencies, development partners and academia. Sudan has developed advocacy tools and a decentralisation plan to districts, complemented by district and community-level coordination structures.
Last updated: November 2017
2016
Sudan joined the Movement in 2015 with strong mechanisms in place for scaling up nutrition. Established platforms for nutrition include the Higher Council of Food Security and Nutrition, established by Presidential Decree in 2014, which convenes 13 line ministries, the National Nutrition Program Office (NNP) in the Ministry of Health is responsible for coordination and reports to the President through the Vice-President and the National Nutrition Committee (NNC) which engages with multiple stakeholder groups including the private sector, civil society, United Nations agencies and development partners and academia. Five technical working groups of the NNC ensure that the objectives of the National Nutrition Strategic Plan are achieved. Specifically related to SUN, the SUN Taskforce has been established and is chaired by the NNP and includes members of the NNC. The UN Network instilled their commitment with a letter of understanding between 6 UN agencies and UNICEF, with IrishAId are co-chairs of the Donor Nutrition Partners Group. A government led mechanism, the Development Partners for Nutrition (DoNUTs), is also chaired by IrishAid. Sudan has developed advocacy tools and a decentralization plan to districts, complemented by district and community level coordination structures.
In 2015, the President of Sudan committed to the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and in 2016, the government launched the “10 priorities in 5 years” call to action for the maternal, newborn and adolescent health strategy which nutrition is a core pillar.
Sudanese Presidential Decree English
Sudanese Presidential Decree Arabic
Last updated: October 2016
The national nutrition strategy response paper for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) recognises malnutrition as the single most important threat to health – limiting education achievements and opportunities for economic development. Despite efforts of various sectors, a huge gap remains between the coverage of basic services and actual needs of the targeted population. Sudan aims to address these factors by effectively engaging, through institutions responsible for the alignment of policies and legislation on the Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and maternity protection. The National Council for Food Security and Nutrition has been mandated to decentralise. The National Council for Child Welfare (NCCW) has been given the authority to ensure the implementation of programmes and the enforcement of legislations.
Last updated: November 2017
2016
In the national nutrition strategy response paper to ICN2, Sudan recognises that malnutrition is the single most important threat to health; limiting education achievements and opportunity for economic development of the country. Despite efforts from various sectors, with regards to existing policies and implementation strategies, a huge gap remains between the actual coverage of the basic services and the actual needs for the targeted population. The presence of nutrition is very limited and presented only as Vitamin A supplementation indicators in the 5 year National Health Sector Strategy (2012-2016). The current nutrition policy focuses on treatment of acute malnutrition with minimum attention to preventive strategies and limited integrated approaches. Sudan aims to address these factors by effectively engaging through the institutions identified under strategic process 1 and its renewed energy since joining the SUN Movement in 2015. The 2006 state level salt iodization laws are an example of one of the policies in place to support scaling up nutrition (in 11 out of 18 states).
Sudan-national-nutrition-policy and key strategies (2009)
Infant and Young child Feeding Strategy – Sudan (2015-2018)
Sudan National Nutrtition Policy Brief (2013)
Sudanese strategic response to ICN2 (2014).
Last updated: October 2016
The 2014-2025 National Nutrition Strategic Plan (NNSP) brings together stakeholders and recognises the contribution of good nutrition to the health and development of children. A multi-sectoral nutrition situation analysis is being carried out, as humanitarian response plans for the past three years have been multi-sectoral in terms of joint planning and implementation. A Joint Resilience Project will inform planning and implementation in both humanitarian and development contexts, after its evaluation
Last updated: November 2017
2016
The primary plan which brings stakeholders together is the National Nutrition Strategic Plan (2014-2025) (NNSP). It recognises that nutrition contributes largely to the health of children as well as their development and well –being and identifies the link between nutrition and non-communicable diseases. The NNSP has been developed by the Federal Ministry of Health with wide stakeholder multisector participation and outlines the broad evidence based strategies that will be used in Sudan to provide basic nutrition services for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition It builds on the Nutrition Policy and Key Strategies (2009) and the National Health Sector Strategy (2012-2016). The NNSP translates the nutrition policy and overall national health sector strategy into a clear guiding document that will facilitate operational planning and resource mobilization taking into account Sudan’s commitments to global nutrition targets and the Sustainable Development Goals. The NNSP includes a log frame towards achieving its strategic objectives and its programmes have been costed. An example of a nutrition specific intervention is the community management of acute malnutrition programme which has 50% coverage and an example of a nutrition sensitive programme is the Cash Transfer Program (2015-2017) targeting 20% of vulnerable households. Under this program, fortified foods are distributed for pregnant and lactating women and children under-5 in addition to the cash transfer.
In 2015, the President of Sudan committed to the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and in 2016, the government launched the “10 priorities in 5 years” call to action for the maternal, newborn and adolescent health strategy which nutrition is a core pillar.
Sudan-national-nutrition-policy and key strategies (2009)
Sudan National Nutrition Strategic Plan (2014-2025)
Sudan National Plan for Scaling Up CMAM (2015-2018)
Launch of “10 priorities in 5 years” (2016)
Last updated: October 2016
To scale up the coverage of suggested nutrition interventions to 90 per cent, an investment case was launched in August 2016. This was costed at an average of USD 524 million per year, of which estimates of current government contributions were at USD 83 million per year, with USD 118 million per year coming from development partners, leaving a USD 323 million funding gap. The NCCW have expressed interest in hosting a pool fund and being responsible for data collection, analysis and reporting, although capacity limitations and technical issues in managing nutrition-sensitive and specific programmes remain.
Last updated: November 2017
2016
In August 2016, Sudan launched an investment case to scale up coverage of suggested nutrition interventions to 90%. This was costed at an average of $524million USD/year, of which, estimates of current government contribution were $83million USD/year and $118 million USD/year from development partners. This highlighted that a $324 million USD/year gap in funding existed. This was launched one week prior to a delegation from Sudan attending the SUN Movement Nutrition financing in Africa workshop in Nairobi, Kenya where this investment cases were shared with 33 SUN Countries at the event.
Nutrition Investment Plan Launch (August 2016)
Last updated: October 2016
SUN Government Focal Point
Isameldin Mohammed Abdallah
Under-Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health
Donor Convenor
- Italian Cooperation
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