National Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.

The National Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding is a sectoral national strategy. Its main goal is to improve infant and young child feeding practices in Ethiopia. The objectives include: (1) to standardize infant and young child feeding practices for improved child health; (2) to specify roles and responsibilities of partners in promoting appropriate practices of feeding; and (3) to outline technical directives for interventions.
The Strategy provides for technical guidance on infant and young children feeding, containing specific recommendations for the same. In the case of breastfeeding between 0 to 6 months-old child, it lays down the following recommendations: (1) initiating breastfeeding immediately; (2) giving colostrum; (3) practicing exclusive breastfeeding from 0-6 months; and (4) ensuring lactating mothers eat a sufficient diet and receive adequate care and support. In respect to complementary feeding for 6 to 24 months-old children and beyond, it provides for the following recommendation: (1) maintaining breastfeeding up to two years of age; (2) practicing responsive feeding; (3) complementary foods should be safely prepared and stored; (4) amount of food should be adequate for child’s age; (5) ensuring appropriate food consistency; (6) ensuring meal frequency and energy density; (7) ensuring adequate nutrient content of complementary foods; (8) vitamin-mineral supplements or fortified products be used by the infant and mother when needed; and (8) continuing feeding during illness and feed more after illness.
The document also treats the issue of feeding during emergencies indicating that in such cases three steps have to be taken to respond to acute malnutrition: (1) active screening of children, pregnant and lactating women for acute malnutrition (Weight/Height percentage of the median); (2) supplementary feeding programs for the treatment of moderate malnutrition and the prevention of severe malnutrition; and (3) therapeutic feeding programs for the treatment of severe malnutrition.
Among the intervening measures it envisages to improve infant and young child feeding, it includes, among others, actions such as ensuring that processed complementary foods are marketed for use at an appropriate age, and that they are safe, culturally acceptable, affordable and nutritionally adequate, in accordance with relevant Codex Alimentarius standards; promoting good nutrition for pregnant women and lactating mothers and promoting development of community-based support networks to help ensure appropriate infant and young child feeding, for example, mother-to-mother support groups and peer or lay counsellors, to which hospitals and clinics can refer mothers on discharge.
The document also includes sections on its implementation noting that the primary obligation of the Ethiopian government is to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate a comprehensive national strategy on infant and young child feeding. In addition to political commitment at the highest level, a successful strategy depends on effective national coordination to ensure full collaboration of all concerned regional governments, international organizations and other concerned parties.