National Strategy Framework of Nutrition Interventions in Yemen 2022 - 2030.

This National Nutrition Strategy is a comprehensive framework aimed at promoting widespread access to nutrition services and ensuring the sustainability of interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality within communities. The Strategy encompasses efforts to tackle all forms of malnutrition, with a specific focus on meeting targets related to stunting and wasting in children under 5 years old. It also addresses the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older individuals. Implemented through a multi-sectoral approach, the Strategy calls for the active involvement of stakeholders at all levels, from the community to the national level, with support from the public sector, including Line Ministries and local Government Authorities. Additionally, the Strategy emphasizes the importance of addressing the nutritional requirements of people in vulnerable situations. The overarching goal is to ensure universal access to sustainable and safe nutrition care, working towards the vision of achieving optimal nutritional status for all Yemenis by 2030. The Strategy's mission centers on strengthening nutrition actions to enhance accessibility to quality nutrition and improve community health by the target year 2030.
The National Strategy Framework of Nutrition Intervention focuses on key strategic areas identified through a readiness assessment (i) maintain a supportive environment by ensuring the sustainability of political commitment; (ii) foster community engagement to increase awareness and encourage appropriate nutrition practices; (iii) enhance multi-sectoral coordination involving all levels of government and stakeholders in preventing and managing malnutrition; (iv) strengthen access to nutrition services to address all forms of malnutrition and scale up preventive services under universal health coverage; (v) provide support for nutrition in emergencies, preparedness, and response, while also emphasizing capacity building, information systems, monitoring, and evaluation for the overall achievement of the national nutrition strategy and nutrition security. The Strategy works towards achieving the following (i) reducing the number of children under 5 who are stunted by 10%; (ii) reducing childhood wasting to 10% or below; (iii) controlling the prevalence of overweight in general population especially among women from 15 to 49 years; (iv) reducing low birth weight to 16% or below; (v) reducing anemia in women of reproductive age to 50%; (vi) improving exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months to not less than 50%; (vii) increasing micronutrient supplementation including vitamin A and iodine, to 100%.
Regarding funding mechanisms, external sources currently serve as the primary funding for nutrition. It is crucial to diversify funding by gradually increasing national investments in addressing nutritional issues. The government should allocate more domestic funds to nutrition, seeking external support from international partners to bridge the gap and ensure the sustainability of nutrition interventions. International partners involved in nutrition should advocate globally and regionally with donors to raise awareness and support.