Page 88 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

with the Secretariat have been undertaken. may increase by up to 25 percent over the
T e regional mechanism plays a critical role remainder of 2020 .
for the provision of rapid technical support With these considerations, there are ex-
and capacity-building assistance to Member pected to be approximately 8.4 million chil-
States. dren who will suf er from acute
T e Secretariat continued to support malnutrition across the region in 2020, and
Member States to align with regional of these, approximately 2.3 million children
processes that provide linkages between the will require life-saving treatment for severe
health sector and the broader development acute malnutrition.
processes at country level. T e limited Over two-thirds of these children (71
progress in translating continental and re- percent) are found in just six countries in
gional commitments into concrete action at the region (Angola, DRC, Mozambique,
country level continues to be a challenge South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia).
and will be addressed by consistent engage- T rough the SADC Food Security and
ment with the broad development process Nutrition Strategy 2015–2025, there are
actors in Member States, particularly in re- goals that the region is committed to achiev-
lation to the provision of predictable long- ing in order to address all forms of malnu-
term f nancing and reduction of fragmented trition. In addition, the strategy has targets
international vertical programmes. on stunting, wasting, underweight,
anaemia, low birthweight, exclusive breast-
Nutrition feeding, and overweight, which are in line
T ere are 18.7 million stunted children in with the global targets (World Health As-
the region and acute malnutrition (wasting) sembly targets).
among children under the age of f ve years T ere were various milestones that the
is over 5 percent in seven Member States, nutrition programme achieved during the
which is classif ed as high according to the period under review, including:
World Health Organization (WHO). Fur-
thermore, all Member States have a preva-
lence of anaemia being above 20 percent in ❖ Regulatory Monitoring and Enforcement 85
women of reproductive age and children Framework for Food Fortif cation
under 5 years which is regarded as a public To accelerate regional response to micronu-
health concern. trient def ciency and support Member
T e COVID-19 pandemic has brought States in the monitoring and enforcement
additional concerns of further deterioration ef orts, the SADC M&E framework was de-
in the nutrition status of the vulnerable pop- veloped to guide food fortif cation regula-
ulation due to insuf cient access to nutritious tory monitoring and enforcement in
food, increase in household food-and-nutri- Member States. T is was developed through
tion insecurity, inadequate access to health, support from GAIN and UNICEF ESARO.
water and sanitation services. T e framework provides guidance on har-
With this background, it is expected monised and systematic approaches to food
that acute malnutrition across the region fortif cation monitoring and enforcement.