Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi has said that malnutrition remains a ‘big complex issue’ in Rwanda which needs concerted efforts to address.

Premier Murekezi made the remarks while presiding over the launch of a new project to combat malnutrition in Rwanda, yesterday, in Kigali.

The five-year project, that will cost Rwf14.8 billion, is designed to improve the nutritional status of women and children under five years of age.

The project dubbed "Gikuriro” (loosely translated as "Growing Child”), is an initiative by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the government.

It will be implemented in eight districts across the country by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), according to Erica J. Barks-Ruggles, the USA Ambassador to Rwanda.

Although Rwanda has made strides in improving health, but chronic malnutrition, as measured by the rate of stunting (growth failure), remains "unacceptably high,” according to experts. 

As per the recent Integrated Household Living Conditions survey (EICV) 38 percent of children under 5 years were recorded with cases of stunting in 2015.

Furthermore, the proportion of children between 6 to 23 months consuming a minimally acceptable diet remains low at 18 percent, an indication of poor feeding practices.

"Malnutrition is a very complex issue, relating to insufficient food security, health, education, water and sanitation, as well as mindset behaviour. We must mobilise ourselves all together to fight malnutrition,” Murekezi said.

He added that, the problem of stunting is an issue that the government of Rwanda is determined to eradicate "at any cost”.

And through Gikuriro project, Murekezi said, the government would effectively fulfill its commitments to end hunger and under-nutrition by 2025 as per the 2025 Compact targets; as well as eliminate all forms of malnutrition by 2030 as per the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

He noted that Gikuriro project would provide more comprehensive support to the nationwide efforts that are meant to reduce stunting to 18 percent by 2018 as planned in Rwanda’s Second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II/ 2013-2018).

"Malnutrition is not acceptable because it has multiple negative consequences,” he said.

Indeed, research shows that the cycle of malnutrition often continues through generations. It is believed that malnourished children risk losing 10 percent of their lifetime earning potential, while malnutrition can cause countries to lose up to 3 percent of GDP.

Furthermore, the physical and mental damages associated with poor foetal growth and stunting are irreversible after the age of two.

However, intervention to minimise the impact of malnutrition, have been captured in the national campaign dubbed "1000 days” that the government launched in 2013.

The campaign sensitizes families to provide adequate nutrition from pregnancy through to the first two years of a child’s life.

The government has embarked on distribution of fortified seeds for beans and sweet potato planting material as a strong nutrition education programme as well as implementation of the joint venture between the Government of Rwanda and Africa Improved Foods Ltd (AIF) that aims at manufacturing enhanced nutritional foods for children and pregnant and lactating women.

"Rwanda has done well to improve feeding, however, there is still a big room for improving the nutritional status in our Country.” Murekezi reiterated.

Research shows that stunting can cause long-term effects on a child’s physical and cognitive development.

Children who are stunted perform more poorly in school compared to their peers and have lower incomes in adulthood.

The U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Erica Barks-Ruggles, said at the launch of Gikuriro projects, that it has been designed to boost Rwanda’s push to reduce or possibly end malnutrition and stunting.

"The United States of America in strong partnership with the Rwandan government, is proud to support the work being done in improving the nutritional status of women and children.”

She told journalists that Gikuriro will focus on community-level service delivery interventions and district-level capacity strengthening to advance Rwanda’s strategies to improve nutrition.

The USAID project will cover eight districts across Rwanda: Kicukiro, Nyarugenge, Rwamagana, Kayonza, Ngoma, Nyabihu, Ruhango, and Nyanza.

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