The Ministry for Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs yesterday launched the 1,000-Day nutrition campaign in refugee camps beginning with Kiziba camp in the Western province.

"We’re sensitising refugees to fight malnutrition,” said Frederic Ntawukuriryayo, Midimar’s communications specialist.

The campaign which began in September 2013, aims at combating malnutrition. It is designed to provide children 1000 days of sufficient nutrition from a mother’s womb up to the age of two years. The campaign targets children under five, pregnant and lactating mothers as well as school children.

Ntawukuriryayo said when the campaign  kicked off last year, government institutions were asked to incorporate it into their respective                                                                       programmes.

"At Midimar, we incorporated that programme into refugee management,” he explains.

Kiziba, the only refugee camp in the Western Province hosts 16,461 refugees, most of whom are Congolese. 

The camp is home to 2,354 children under five years  of age and 689 children between six and 23 months. According to Midimar, 33.5 per cent of the population at Kiziba is stunted.

Stunting is as a result of  lack of proper nutrients – either in mothers during pregnancy or children in their early stages of development. It can affect  growth of vital organs, slower brain functioning and can cause premature death. 

The 1,000 Days campaign is expected to reduce malnutrition and stunting in refugee camps through nutrition programmes. 

Midimar in partnership with Usaid, Unicef and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will build kitchen gardens, facilitate rabbit breeding and implement a supplementary feeding programme for children and pregnant mothers. 

Yesterday at Kiziba, 315 kitchen gardens were set up and 151 families received rabbits.

Ntawukuriryayo says the government also hopes the campaign will compel refugees to start their own homegrown initiatives such as livestock and small-scale farming to combat malnutrition.

There are five refugee camps in Rwanda – Mugombwa in Gisagara District, Gihembe in Gicumbi District, Nyabiheke, Kiziba and Kigeme. 

These camps, according to UNHCR host 72,856 refugees, most of whom are from DR Congo, Burundi and the surrounding region.

The 1000 Days campaign will be implemented in all five camps as well as the country’s transit holding centres.

"Programmes for the development of citizens have to benefit refugees. And the programmes started in the refugee camps have to also benefit the surrounding communities,” Ntawukuriryayo says.