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. 2019 Dec 16;11(12):3065.
doi: 10.3390/nu11123065.

Prioritizing the Scale-Up of Evidence-Based Nutrition and Health Interventions to Accelerate Stunting Reduction in Ethiopia

Kaleab Baye  1
Affiliations

Prioritizing the Scale-Up of Evidence-Based Nutrition and Health Interventions to Accelerate Stunting Reduction in Ethiopia

Kaleab Baye. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Despite some progress, stunting prevalence in many African countries including Ethiopia remains unacceptably high. This study aimed to identify key interventions that, if implemented at scale through the health sector in Ethiopia, can avert the highest number of stunting cases. Using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST), the number of stunting cases that would have been averted, if proven interventions were scaled-up to the highest wealth quintile or to an aspirational 90% coverage was considered. Stunting prevalence was highest among rural residents and households in the poorest wealth quintile. Coverage of breastfeeding promotion and vitamin A supplementation were relatively high (>50%), whereas interventions targeting women were limited in number and had particularly low coverage. Universal coverage (90%) of optimal complementary feeding, preventive zinc supplementation, and water connection in homes could have each averted 380,000-500,000 cases of stunting. Increasing coverage of water connection to homes to the level of the wealthiest quintile could have averted an estimated 168,000 cases of stunting. Increasing coverage of optimal complementary feeding, preventive zinc supplementation, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services is critical. Innovations in program delivery and health systems governance are required to effectively reach women, remote areas, rural communities, and the poorest proportion of the population to accelerate stunting reduction.

Keywords: growth faltering; health systems; maternal and child nutrition; stunting.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual framework of key interventions and their link with stunting. * WASH stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
Figure 2
Figure 2
National stunting prevalence among children < 5 years of age in Ethiopia; 2011–2016. DHS, Demographic and Health Survey.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proportion (%) of stunting in children < 5 years of age in Ethiopia by rural-urban (A) and wealth quintile (B).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Coverage of effective interventions linked to stunting, 2016.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of stunting cases that would have been averted with scale-up of key interventions to 90%, 2019.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Number of stunting cases that would have been averted with scale-up of key interventions to coverage levels of the highest wealth quintile, 2019.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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