Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Nutrition for Growth (N4G) commitment to 2020
Reported progress
Assessment
1. Contribute to adequate funding of nutrition.
2. Exempt nutritional products for all taxes (therapeutic foods ready for consumption).
In the 2019 budget promulgated by the Ministry of Health, the government allocated 1,000,000 Congolese Francs (slightly less than US$606,000) to the National Nutrition Program (PRONANUT).
Although the language of Commitment 1 is vague, some funding for nutrition is present.
1. Develop a national nutrition policy that takes into account the international nutritional context.
2. Strengthen leadership in nutrition and create a mechanism for high-level coordination that includes all key sectors.
3. Integrate nutrition into various development plans of the country (the Agricultural Development Plan, in terms of food security, nutrition education plan in primary and secondary schools).
1. DRC's National Nutrition Policy, revised in 2013 to render it multisectoral and take into account the international context, is in effect.
2. Preparations for the launch of the private sector platform are underway. A work shop is planned for November 2019 to operationalize the network.
3. The Ministry of Agriculture has initiated the National Program for Food Security and Nutrition in Agriculture (PROSANA). This program includes, among other things, the implementation of the National Food Security and Nutrition Policy (PNSAN). The Ministry of Gender, Family, and Children has also initiated a food security and nutrition unit, which will be responsible for rendering all of the Ministry's programs and projects nutrition sensitive. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the National Program of Social Protection, and WFP's Systems Approach for Better Education Results project (SABER), has launched the process of drafting the National School Canteen Policy (PNCS). This process will result in the codification of school feeding into law, and PNCS guidance on school feeding will be ratified.
Although the language of all commitments are vague, efforts towards all commitments have been undertaken.
1. Promote adequate nutritional knowledge and practices: exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, complementary feeding and nutrition of women.
2. Promote key nutrition actions: fortification of staple foods.
3. To prioritize feeding infants and young children.
1. Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) is one of the flagship programs of the National Nutrition Program. The National Nutrition Program has developed its strategic and 2019 operational plan with IYCF activities. Considerable efforts to expand activities to prevent malnutrition and promote adequate knowledge and nutritional practices are underway. Results from the activity monitoring system indicate that the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 67.5% in January 2019 and 67.6% in June. For continued breastfeeding, the prevalence was 73% in January 2019 and 76.8% in June 2019. Each year, DRC celebrates World Breastfeeding Day. This year, the theme is "Empower parents, facilitate breastfeeding" and preparations are underway for behaviour change communication for breastfeeding and women's nutrition.
2. The aforementioned workshop in November 2019 will set up a public/private partnership and launch coordination and consultation structures on food fortification.
3. Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) is one of the flagship programs of the National Nutrition Program.
Although the language of all commitments are vague, efforts towards all commitments have been undertaken.