Working in partnership to tackle chronic malnutrition in Madagascar
PARTNERS
- World Bank
- UK Aid
- Government of Madagascar
SDGS SUPPORTED
- SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
- SDG 1 - No Poverty
- SDG 3 - Good Health & Wellbeing
- SDG 5 - Gender Equality
- SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals
CONVENED FUNDS
$90m
LOCATION
Madagascar
DATES
2018 - 2023
Introduction
Nutrition is essential to human capital development and economic growth. Yet in Madagascar, nearly half of children under five (47% in 2018) suffered from undernutrition and stunting, where they are too short for their age, costing its economy as much as 10% of GDP each year.
In 2018, The Power of Nutrition partnered with the World Bank and the Government of Madagascar to create the country’s first and only significant programme to reduce chronic malnutrition and subsequently tackle the high rates of childhood stunting. The $90 million programme took a multisectoral approach, aiming to support two million children with better health and nutrition, whilst also providing 650,000 mothers with free essential health and nutrition services.
A stunted child in Madagascar can only achieve 37% of his or her potential when she or he turns 18. A whole generation is in jeopardy. It's imperative that we invest in nutrition.
Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira, Country Manager, World Bank
The Power of Nutrition’s investment of $10 million helped convince the Government of Madagascar to double its allocation to nutrition from $40m to $80m, proving that partnerships like these can incentivise greater investment, coordinate efforts, optimise aid delivery and ultimately, accelerate impact.
Programme interventions
Supporting breastfeeding
Promoting and supporting mothers to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months.
Healthcare
Supporting pregnant women with key supplements such as vitamin A and iron and folic acid.
Antenatal services
Strengthening antenatal services to reach more pregnant women.
Health monitoring
Monitoring children’s health to identify and treat malnutrition at an early stage.
The programme scaled up facilities, training and services to integrate primary care and nutrition assistance at local and regional levels for the first time in Madagascar.
It ended in 2023. National stunting rates were reduced to 40% - this is still far too high and shows there is still a huge need for investment in nutrition in Madagascar.
Dina Lalaina Ravakaniony Mother"“They monitored my weight from the start of my pregnancy and they advised me on the healthy foods to eat to keep me and my baby healthy, and to avoid complications during childbirth. I came here regularly – it was very easy. My son became very big, not like my two children before this one.”"
Progress to date
2m
women and children reached
More than two million women and children have received health and nutrition services through the programme.
4k
community sites supported
More than four thousand community sites and over one thousand primary health care facilities were strengthened with nutrition and health products and equipment.
9k
community health workers supported
More than nine thousand community health workers and 500 frontline health workers received training.
3x
increase in healthcare visits for pregnant women
Three times as many pregnant women and new mothers are now receiving healthcare visits, following use of healthcare vouchers.
Partner with us
We never work alone. Below are some of the partners we work with - all sharing our vision of a world where every child has the right nutrition to reach their full potential.
