Parliamentarians have resolved to make a special assessment to find out whether the target that the Government set to reduce stunting to 19 percent by 2024 will be achieved based  on existing challenges and opportunities, especially Covid-19 pandemic  that has had an impact on Rwanda and the world in general.

This is one of the resolutions made on Friday, March 26, 2021 at the end of a virtual consultative meeting on scaling up nutrition and fighting against child stunting was organised by Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum (FFRP).

The meeting brought together Parliamentarians and various stakeholders involved in the family promotion.

It was aimed at fast-tracking the realisation of the Government’s goal to build a resilient and safe family, including strategies to reduce stunting from 38 percent in 2014/2015 to 19 percent by 2024.

According to the 6th Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2019-2020 (RDHS 2019-2020) published by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda in December 2020, stunting among children under the age of five has been declining, falling from 44 percent in 2010 to 38 percent in 2014/15 and 33 percent in 2019/2020.  

MPs said that though there has been some improvement in addressing the stunting plight, the progress is slow given the severity of the problem.

Indeed, under the Ministry of Health’s strategic plan, which runs from July 2018 to June 2024, the government sought to reduce stunting to 29.9 percent by 2020, a target that was missed.

Among other things, legislators also resolved to assess the results of different initiatives meant for eliminating child stunting, early childhood development, agriculture and livestock, hygiene and sanitation in order to sustain the achieved gains and accelerate the fight against stunting among children.

Stunting can be caused by factors including chronic hunger, and persistent infections or chronic diseases that cause poor nutrient intake.

This is a pressing issue that needs much attention because there is evidence that stunting in early life has irreversible and lifelong impacts on the child, & generates severe repercussions on the life of families and the country’s development.

MPs called for scaling up efforts in mobilising families so as to raise their awareness about proper nutrition and fighting stunting among children, just from prenatal stage.

Parliamentarians also urged further improvement in collaboration between the Government and its partners in various initiatives aimed to increase the means of poor families and improving welfare, at the same time with the participation of the family members.

MP Marie Mediatrice Izabiliza said that Rwanda can able to join efforts and beat stunting, giving an example of Senegal which reduced stunting from 30 percent to 20 percent, and Peru brought stunting down from 28 percent to 18 percent in five years.

She was citing findings of a global-level study that was done on stunting by Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.

"There is a need to increase the capacity of families, and ensure effective family planning,” she said, calling for speeding up the rollout of the integrated support for lifting poor families out of poverty, and ensuring proper family planning.

Claudine Marie-Solange Nyinawagaga, Director-General of Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) said that the country has been putting efforts into tackling poverty and stunting, indicating that poverty stood at 38 percent among Rwandans in 2017.

"In most cases, malnutrition and child stunting is associated with poverty,” she said.

She said that the Government has been investing more in initiatives aimed at fighting poverty among Rwandans, which include direct financial support given to people who are unable to work because of conditions such as disability or old age.

Other supports include financial service whereby the poor Rwandans who cannot secure loans from financial institutions are helped to get loans at a 2 percent interest rate so that they are able to carry out income-generating activities, and public works whereby needy people are paid for the works for the public interest.

She also cited a nutrition-sensitive support to pregnant mothers and under two-year-old children [from vulnerable families], such as the provision of fortified foods to protect them from malnutrition.