After the May launch of a mass campaign against malnutrition, the Minister of Health, Dr. Richard Sezibera, revealed that the initiative has successfully eliminated all acute cases of malnutrition in the country.

He said local leaders will also closely follow up on the fight.
According to the minister, about 45 percent of Rwandan children are stunted and there is not much that can be done to change this situation

However, during the emergency phase, over 10,000 children in the acute phase were admitted in hospitals and have recovered.

"Acute malnutrition which is associated with side effects, such as swollen bellies, has gone down completely and the children have gone back to their communities.

The challenge today is ensuring that they feed correctly and a closely follow up on them.

"In a bid to ensure that no child ever suffers from malnutrition again, local leaders will also track progress of this fight and results will be highlighted in the performance-based contracts (Imihigo),” he noted.

The malnutrition battle is among the health progress interventions that were highlighted during the Joint Health Sector Review meeting that was held last week to evaluate steps taken towards health targets spelt out within Millennium Development Goals.

According to the World Health Organization, hunger and malnutrition are the single gravest threats to the world’s public health, and malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases.

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