The Government of Madagascar, the World Bank and The Power of Nutrition are partnering to reduce child undernutrition in Madagascar, where 47 percent of children under five are stunted, among the highest in the world.
The programme is scaling a newly defined minimum package of nutrition and primary healthcare interventions in eight high burden regions in support of the government’s new National Nutrition Strategy III. The programme will build the capacity of government to manage and deliver services.
The programme brings together historically fragmented community nutrition and health platforms into one integrated approach. The programme will increase access and use of a package of reproductive, maternal, and child health and nutrition services and improve key nutrition behaviours known to reduce stunting. The programme will utilise results-based financing to incentivise health workers and introduce a user fee exemption scheme to reduce financial barriers to accessing services. It will also test innovations, including a group coaching model to improve early childhood stimulation and parenting practices.
This programme aims to improve nutrition behaviours and deliver a package of nutrition and health interventions for 2 million children and 650,000 mothers by 2022. The direct impact of this activity has been modelled to be at least 19,100 lives saved and 113,000 cases of stunting prevented.
Implementing Partners: World Bank, Government of Madagascar
The Power of Nutrition Donors: CIFF, DfID, Comic Relief, UBS Optimus Foundation
