NAIROBI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health on Thursday unveiled a comprehensive strategy aimed at boosting the country's quest for eradicating malnutrition by 2027.
Susan Nakhumicha, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, said Kenya has advanced scientific knowledge, political goodwill, and sufficient resources to help eliminate malnutrition affecting a significant portion of the population.
"Our government is committed to eliminating malnutrition in all its forms within five years," Nakhumicha remarked during a nutrition improvement meeting held in the coastal city of Mombasa.
She noted that the provision of fertilizer subsidies and the revitalization of the irrigation schemes will be key to boosting food and nutrition security in the country amid climate-related vagaries.
Nakhumicha said the Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to implement a project dubbed Nutrition Improvement through Cash and Health Education.
The government is also taking nutrition interventions to "Inua Jamii" (Swahili for improving lives) cash transfer beneficiaries, specifically households with children under the age of two years and pregnant women, said Nakhumicha.
She observed that Kenya has made significant progress in reducing malnutrition in the past two decades, adding that the proportion of children below five years of age who are stunted has reduced from 35 percent in 2003 to 18 percent in 2022.
Nakhumicha stressed that nutrition security is an effective intervention in the fight against poverty since it is the foundation of survival, health, as well as national economic growth, and development. She said the new strategy for eradicating malnutrition is focusing on agriculture, health, and education, adding that delivering Universal Health Coverage will incorporate revamping community-based nutrition services.
