4. Nutrition Improvement/Nutrition Security

4.2 Maternal and newborn nutrition

i. Promote actions to ensure pregnant and lactating women and their families have access to and are knowledgeable about their need for an adequate and nutritious diet;

ii. Support the establishment of a monitoring and support system to promote compliance with iron/folate supplementation and healthy weight programme before and during pregnancy and lactation;

iii. Support the development of a universal programme of iron/folate or multi micronutrient supplementation for adolescent girls and young women and promote dietary diversification and consumption of fortified food at the household level;

iv. Promote behavioural changes; strengthen linkages between nutrition care in health facilities and community centres, and monitor birth weights of babies born outside health facilities;

v. Promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding;

vi. Promote linkage of nutrition interventions and nutrition education of mothers with Safe Motherhood, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives, immunization, malaria control and Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI); and

vii. Promote workload reduction technologies and increase income-generating activities for women.

Early childhood nutrition

i. Promote and protect exclusive breastfeeding and create an enabling environment which will include enactment and enforcement of a law to regulate marketing of breast-milk substitutes (Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes) and ensuring supportive labour laws in relation to maternity leave;

ii. Support the development of systems to implement the right to proper nutrition and health care for all children as per the Constitution;

iii. Promote improvements to micronutrient status of children and support micronutrient supplementation;

iv. Ensure equitable access to high impact nutrition and health interventions and increased uptake of optimal feeding and hygiene practices.

v. Support expansion of growth monitoring and promotion to all communities.

Late childhood nutrition

i. Support coordination efforts to improve nutrition through schools, including full integration in the curriculum, routine health/nutrition assessments and school meal standards;

ii. Support adoption of food preparation and eating practices that better ensure children’s adequate nutrition; and

iii. Lay emphasis on improving sanitation and hygiene.

Adolescence nutrition

i. Support coordination efforts to improve nutrition through schools, including full integration within the education curriculum, routine health/nutrition assessments, school meal standards;

ii. Promote the establishment of lifestyle micronutrient supplementation programmes to prevent such deficiencies among young women;

iii. Promote the importance of adequate nutrition for young women especially before pregnancy; and

iv. Promote use of fortified foods in the diet.

Adult nutrition

i. Promote good eating habits and weight monitoring, and establish supportive community based health and nutrition counselling centres;

ii. Support the development and dissemination of national food and dietary guidelines and lifestyle education packages on a regular basis with revisions at least every five years; and

iii. Improve the system of social safety nets to ensure all affected family members have adequate protein, energy as well as necessary micronutrients in their daily diets.

Nutrition for older persons

i. Develop and actively disseminate dietary guidelines and standards for older persons;

ii. Develop and support nutrition care initiatives and support community based life-style and health services; and

iii. Improve the system of social safety nets to ensure the older persons have adequate protein, energy as well as necessary micronutrients in their daily diets.