Nutrition situation
Under five stunting (%)
34.6
Under five overweight (%)
5.2
Anaemia in women 15-49 years (%)
33.7
Under five wasting (%)
4.2
Low birth weight (%)
11.6
0 to 5-month-old exclusive breastfeeding (%)
69.9
Adolescent overweight (%)
Male: 7.8
/ Female: 16
Adult overweight (%)
Male: 19
/ Female: 36.3
Adult obesity (%)
Male: 3.6
/ Female: 12.4
Adult diabetes (%)
Male: 6.5
/ Female: 6.7
COVID-19 snapshot
COVID-19 disrupted implementation at all levels. However, SUN stakeholders created guidelines for nutrition activities during the pandemic, at all levels, and coordination structures continued to function under the ”new normal“.
Institutional transformations 2019-2020
Bringing people together into a shared space for action
SUN Networks continued to operate, while the National Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group presided over matters of evidence generation and dissemination.More District and Provincial Nutrition Coordinating Committees (DNCCs /PNCCs) were established, with the start of the 1,000 Most Critical Days Programme (MCDP) targeting all provinces of Zambia.
The SUN Civil Society Alliance (CSA) continued with advocacy and expanded its network to include youth nutrition champions.
Ensuring a coherent policy and legal framework
The SUN CSA successfully advocated with the Ministry of Justice to pass the Food and Nutrition Bill, which established the Food and Nutrition Coordinating Committee. A Food Safety Bill was enacted in August 2019. Regulatory impact assessments for the 2006 National Food and Nutrition Policy continued, with five ministries providing feedback on its status.Aligning actions around common results
The National Food and Nutrition Strategic Plan 2017–2021 was officially launched in June 2019. The SUN focal point mobilised support from the SUN learning and evaluation project, to develop a Common Results Framework (planned for late 2020). The Government engaged with the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GLOPAN) to organise a high-level roundtable on healthy diets and nutrition in Zambia. This event will focus on food systems and climate change.Financial tracking and resource mobilisation
A shift from activity-based budgeting to outputs-based budgeting was seen, through the medium-term expenditure framework, which is aligned with the 7th National Development Plan outcomes. Costing of sectoral plans was based on financial commitments from the Government and development partners. No significant changes occurred in budgetary allocations to sectors due to a limited fiscal space. Nutrition development partners helped ensure financial disbursements for SUN and the 1,000-days programme.2020-2021 Priorities
- Continuing rolling out the SUN/MCDP 2 programme to at least 60 districts, implementing nutrition interventions.
- Implementing the 2020 Food and Nutrition Act.
- Finalising the review of the National Food and Nutrition policy.
- Completing the Food Consumption and Micronutrient Status Survey and disseminating three focused monitoring and evaluation surveys.
- Finalising and operationalising the Common Results Framework and the districtlevel nutrition scorecard.
- Scaling up the healthy diet campaign and Good Food Logo.
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