Improve access and quality of food to the most vulnerable groups

The Mozambique government, under the coordination of the Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN) and leadership of the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the other sectors (Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries [MAAP], Ministry of Public Works; Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Education and the Institute for Disaster Management [INDG]), as well as other stakeholders, commits to improve/increase the minimum diet diversity of children between 6–23 months of age from 14% in 2022 to 25% by 2030.

Key actions include:

• Increasing Nutrition Intervention Package (PIN) coverage to 50% by 2029. PIN is a package tailored for and delivered in remote communities by community health workers, aimed at improving the health, nutrition and well-being of children. PIN covers seven key nutrition interventions for children under 2 years of age. PIN can contribute to the achievement of the minimum dietary diversity indicator. An impact evaluation for PIN is planned to be undertaken in 2025.

• Promoting social and behaviour change actions to enhance communication of complementary infant feeding.

• Finalising the revision of the Breastmilk Substitutes Code of Conduct.

• Strengthening and increasing the quantity of local production, transformation, conservation, distribution and consumption of food, in alignment with the National Action Plan for Food Systems Transformation in the country.

• Expanding the Basic Social Subsidy Programme (PSSB). The Child Grant (under the PSSB) is a social protection programme targeting families with children between 0 and 2 years of age with a monthly allocation of 500 meticais (equivalent to $8). The progamme is currently being scaled up from two to more provinces, with a planned target of reaching nine provinces by 2030.

• Ensuring that social protection and social action programmes implemented as part of the humanitarian response (i.e., in response to shocks) also contribute to the prevention of child malnutrition.

• Strengthening the National School-Feeding Programme (PRONAE) – reaching school-aged children and adolescents.

• Increasing the coverage of water and sanitation programmes.