Multi-sector Strategic Plan to reduce Malnutrition in Sierra Leone (2019-2025).

This multi-sector Strategic Plan, involving a range of actors and stakeholders from civil society and academic institutions, originates from the Government’s commitment to provide a coordinated response to the crucial issue of under- and malnutrition, affecting in particular the vulnerable groups of the society and ensure their citizens the right to food and nutrition security. In order to achieve nutrition and security for all and comply with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Plan outlines key strategies related to the improvement of health, nutrition and economic development and focuses on multi-sectoral efforts to strengthen interventions and investment in various domains. This Strategic Plan is addressed to national and district-level policy-makers, legislators, government and civil society (both international and national) technical staff along with key research institution professionals who are concerned with nutrition, food security, social protection and socio-economic development in Sierra Leone.
The Strategic Plan identifies the following specific objectives to be achieved in the period 2019-2025: assisting stakeholders in defining the overall goal, strategic objectives, indicators, and a set of sectoral nutrition actions: nutrition specific, nutrition sensitive and enabling environment; ensuring that the goal, objectives, activities and indicators of the Strategic Plan are relevant, practical, measurable and achievable; using proper costing methodologies to implement the Plan; developing a new updated National Food and Nutrition Security Implementation Plan; working closely and cooperate with the “National Zero-Hunger Strategic Review” team. The Plan focuses on the following population groups: newborns and children under 5 years of age, women of reproductive age, persons living with HIV and other diseases, mentally or physically-challenged persons, orphans and vulnerable children, internally displaced persons, urban poor, female heads of households in rural areas, victims of natural disasters.
The main goal of achieving nutrition and food security is linked to African and global commitments to reduce morbidity and end mortality from communicable and non-communicable diseases and improve health conditions. Therefore, the Plan identifies the following priorities: improvement of national health system; strengthening of community system, with targeted national social and behaviour change communication, data collection, analysis, reporting and documentation; promotion of optimal care practices affecting nutritionally-vulnerable groups; rapidly increase access to safe drinking water and hygiene and sanitation by improving water sources; strengthening water supply, sanitation and hygiene in schools and raising nutrition awareness and related activities among adolescent; improvement of household food security situation, in order to satisfy the daily dietary needs of the population; strengthening of crop, food diversification, and bio-diversification initiatives; promotion of food safety and hygiene practices; improvement of food quality and quantity with appropriate technologies; expansion and intensification of school feeding for all children and adolescents; improvement of targeted, nutrition-sensitive and gender-sensitive social safety net programming, with increasing access to credit, cash transfers, micro-finance and other income generating initiatives to vulnerable groups; environmental strategic initiatives in support of multi-sectoral nutrition, including: creation of a safe environment, disaster risk management, early warning systems for food and nutrition, risk mitigation framework on climate change issues, droughts, floods, pests and diseases.