The negative effects of malnutrition on productivity, cognitive ability, and health status are not always obvious. Furthermore, because of the multi-sectoral determinants of nutrition, improving nutritional status is often viewed as “everyone’s problem but no one’s responsibility” (IDS 2008; Lapping et al. 2012).
To succeed in sustainably scaling up nutrition programs we must pay attention to the “political economy of nutrition,” which has been referred to as the enabling environment of “economics, political and social institutions and ideas, and the values, perceptions, and priorities of decision makers” (Gillespie 2001). Key stakeholders need to include nutrition in their agendas – they must prioritize nutrition (Moran et al. 2012). To do so, they need to have access to high-quality data, evidence, and policies. Their attention must then be drawn to the issue and their role in addressing that issue. This will ultimately lead to engagement, increased funding, and improved policies (Darmstadt et al. 2014).
This document highlights an assessment process, needs and priorities, and suggests recommendations for increasing the prioritization of nutrition, particularly implementation and scale-up of the C-IYCF Counselling Package in Kaduna State and Nigeria more broadly. JSI/SPRING Project, 2016.
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