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Malnutrition in the OIC Member

Countries: A Trap for Poverty

4 .2 . Key Recommendations

1. Adopt the internationally recognised framework for nutrition policy

It is now widely recognised that nutrition is a multi-sectoral issue and therefore requires the

collaboration of multiple sectors to successfully address the nutrition burden. Reviews of the

failure of previous regional nutrition strategies, for example the first African Union nutrition

strategy which ran from 1993-2003, found that one of the major problems with the strategy

was that it failed to integrate a multi-sectoral approach. As a result, despite the fact that the

African region has had a nutrition policy for longer than other regions, rate of malnutrition on

the continent remain unacceptably high.

Moving to a multi-sectoral response requires a switch from focusing only on nutrition specific,

often curative interventions to address nutrition more holistically and bring in more nutrition

sensitive policies which address the underlying and basic causes of malnutrition and focus on

preventing the root causes of malnutrition rather than treating malnutrition To engage

multiple sectors to align around improved nutrition, the SUNmovement has developed a single

and agreed set of expected (or common) results generated through the effective engagement of

different sectors of Government and the multiple (non-government) actors who have capacity

to influence people's nutrition. This is known as a Common Results Framework (CRF). This set

of results should be based on the national goals and targets for nutrition, and reflect the ways

in which different sectors and actors can best contribute to the achievement of these targets

through their individual and collective actions. While the “results” referred to in a CRF are

guided by the 1000 days window of opportunity to improve nutrition, CRFs may also include

targets for obesity or overweight reduction (Walters, Dohan and Shoham 2015).

However, despite the recognized need for a multi-sectoral response, the health sector remains

responsible for most nutrition interventions and the agriculture sector, in many countries, still

remains uninvolved in nutrition interventions and focused largely on productivity. In order to

see effective implementation of the CRFs and other multi-sectoral responses, efforts must be

made to improve coordination at the national and subnational level.

2. Integrate the double-burden of malnutrition within all nutrition policies

The root causes of malnutrition should be addressed in an integrated way. There is increasing

evidence that overnutrition and undernutrition are caused by many of the same factors, and

often reinforce each other. For instance, poor nutrition in utero can pre-dispose individuals to

obesity and non-communicable disease in later life. Indeed, in an increasing number of

households, child stunting and maternal obesity can be found together. An attempt to try to

understand this phenomena, and the particular drivers using data from 18 countries, found

very similar factors drivers as those factors which are linked to poor nutrition more broadly,

including low levels of maternal education, higher numbers of children living in the household,

working in subsistence agriculture and relative household poverty (Jehn and Brewis 2009).

Additionally, given the effects of poor nutrition during pregnancy on later adverse health;

nutrition must be tackled holistically.

Countries must consider policies which aim to address poor nutrition from multiple angles,

taking into account both intended and unintended consequences. For example, a policy of food

subsidies intended to reduce food insecurity may be a contributing factor to obesity by making

calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods, much cheaper than nutritious foods like fruits and

vegetables. The notion that undernutrition concerns the poor and overnutrition concerns the

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