CASE STUDY
Mali
The Sikasso paradox A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO FIGHTING MALNUTRITION
WHO: • Ministry of Health • Groupes de Soutien aux Activités de Nutrition (Nutrition support groups) • UNICEF • European Union • Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
WHAT: Micronutrient powders (MNP) delivered to young children helped to cut chronic malnutrition in the Sikasso region's Yorosso district from 30.2% in 2012 to 15.4% in 2016.1 The MNPs reached more than 44,990 children in 2019 in Sikasso overall.2
In the Sikasso region, UNICEF, the Ministry of Health and other agencies have worked to build a community-led nutrition intervention. Aimed to reduce stunting and anaemia, each community has a group of locally-respected volunteers who disburse micronutrient powders and promote key family practices like early initiation of breastfeeding and dietary diversity. Piloted in two districts, the approach cut childhood stunting rates in half and is now looking to scale.
“We have put the community at the heart of their own development.”
Photo: Miguel Lizana /AECID
- Marietta Mounkoro, UNICEF Nutrition Officer in Sikasso
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HOW: Introducing MNPs through a multisectoral group of community volunteers, within a package of interventions including counselling to promote nurturing care and key family practices like child feeding, hygiene and health.
The Sikasso region is known as Mali’s breadbasket yet has some of the worst malnutrition rates in the nation. This is called the “Sikasso paradox.” One in three children under 5 suffer from stunting.3 As one of four countries in the Africa Nutrition Security Partnership, Mali’s Ministry of Health worked with UNICEF and other agencies to pilot a new approach to tackling child malnutrition at a community level in the districts of Yorosso and Koutiala.
Key lessons 5
Allocate a budget
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Collaborate outside government
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Regular monitoring and evaluation
With implementation beginning in 2013 in Yorosso and 2016 in Koutiala, the intervention combines micronutrient powders (MNPs) with community-based leadership. MNPs contain 10 vitamins and five minerals to help support
