Maintain acute malnutrition rate for children under five at less than 5% by 2030

Decrease in malnutrition

By 2030, Benin is a country where each person enjoys optimal nutritional status for their well-being, allowing them to actively participate in the creation of national wealth and sustainable development. Objectives towards accomplishment of this goal:

• Increase the exclusive breastfeeding rate to more than 50%.

• Maintain the rate of global acute malnutrition in children under 5 at less than 5%.

• Reduce the prevalence of stunting in children under 5 to less than 30%.

• Maintain the rate of households using iodised salt at greater than 90%.

•Reduce by 50% the rate of malnutrition and anaemia among pregnant women.

•Increase the budget allocated to nutrition by 50% and ensure that at least 80% of it is disbursed for development activities.

•Raise the level of food and nutrition department representation within the ministries involved in nutrition (eg, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Social Affairs) to the level of the Conseil National de l’Alimentation et de la Nutrition (CAN).

• Strengthen the governance and authority of CAN and its Permanent Secretariat at the national level through establishment of laws and development of food and nutrition policies and plans.

• Validate and make available the 1) strategy to combat iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) and the sectoral guidelines for the control of IDDs; 2) strategy for food fortification and nutritional supplementation with essential micronutrients; and 3) strategy and guidelines for food and nutritional management of illnesses in hospitals.

• Pilot and scale up the food, nutrition and health programme for pregnant women in at least 50% of communes.

• Strengthen the quality of integrated nutrition services and fully integrate them into the minimum primary healthcare package (promotional, preventive and curative), in particular through the use of digital tools to improve the reliability of diagnoses and the assumption of responsibility.