Mauritania
Nutrition for Growth (N4G) commitment to 2020
Reported progress
Assessment
1. Reduce by at least 40% stunting among children under age 5.
2. Reduce wasting to 5%.
3. 50% increase in exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life.
1. In recent years, the prevalence of stunting in Mauritania has remained stable at around 20%. The 2018 National SMART survey shows a slight increase to 23.3%, probably due to the lack of additional investment. As a result, one in five children suffers from stunted growth.
2. Mauritania periodically experiences a worsening of the nutritional situation during the lean season, characterized by an increase in cases of acute malnutrition. According to the 2018 SMART survey, global acute malnutrition was estimated at 11.6%, with 2.3% of severe cases exceeding the emergency threshold of 2% according to WHO standards.
3. Accord to the National SMART surveys, the exclusive breastfeeding rate has increased from 36% in 2016 to 40.3% in 2018. This reflects a positive trend towards the national target of 75% by 2025 according to the 10-years MIYCN scaling up plan and the 10-years multi-sectoral nutrition strategic plan developed in 2016.
Though some progress has been made, stunting and wasting have actually increased.
1. Finalize the sectoral action plan for nutrition (PAIN), which defines the specific nutritional interventions.
2. Strengthen the resilience of our communities dealing with cyclical crises of food and nutrition insecurity.
3. Define costs in PAIN document as an advocacy tool to increase the share of the state budget allocated to nutrition and contribute to increase investment in the field of nutrition.
1. Mauritania developed an ambitious 10-years multi-sectoral nutrition strategic plan integrating a common results framework.
2. Building resilience among vulnerable communities remains challenging despite the shift in the planning mechanism to ensure coherence and complementarity between humanitarian and development programming. Early warning system is being developed as part of actions to mitigate to impact of the lean season period. The 2016 national poverty reduction document (SCAPP) adopted by the Government has focused on identifying areas of accelerated growth. The social protection policy documents reflecting a strong political commitment. Thus, the national social protection system TADAMOUN and the cash transfer program TEKAVOUL intend to improve access to basic social services with a specific equity-based focus.
3. The annual budget tracking system and the costing of the nutrition specific interventions to reach some outputs of the 10-years multi-sectoral nutrition strategic plan, allowed to develop a narrative brief to advocate domestic resource allocation.
1. The PAIN has been developed with an integrated CRF.
2. There are ongoing efforts to address this commitment. 3. The PAIN has been developed with an integrated CRF, and there are ongoing efforts to address this commtment.