This is a guest blog written by Charlotte Jordan, CABI.
On 1st April 2015, the GSMA and the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) will host a mNutrition workshop in Zambia. This will be an opportunity to bring together the nutrition community and introduce the GSMA’s nutrition mobile messaging initiative, which is being launched across 14 countries in Africa and South-East Asia, including Zambia.
The mNutrition initiative sees the development and delivery of targeted nutrition content direct to mobile users. This delivery mechanism is important as it reaches beyond the audience and scale of traditional extension services, such as community health workers, which is important in a country where the rural population is 60%. In doing so, the initiative aims to reach 2 million people across all 14 countries, and targets the reduction of child stunting by 5%.
In Zambia, stunting in children under-five remains stubbornly high at 40% and severe stunting at 17% (DHS, 2014). In tackling this, mNutrition focusses on increasing micronutrient intake and other health processes to improve absorption. Micronutrient density of the Zambian diet is low, with meals principally consisting of starchy staples. The main micronutrient deficiencies amongst children are vitamin B12 (87%), iron (21%) and vitamin A (20%). For women, the most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies are vitamin B12 (95%), zinc (70%) and iron (19%).
The GSMA has engaged a consortium of partners to develop content for the messages and in Zambia the global partner is CABI. Across all of the countries, content is being developed through a rigorous process of quality assurance and validation, ensuring it is appropriate, accessible and applicable to those it aims to reach. The first step in this process is to create a Landscape Analysis – this is a situational analysis which collates all available information on the nutrition status within Zambia. The Landscape Analysis covers a variety of subject areas such as demographics, health, food availability, livelihoods and the policy environment. The purpose of the validation process is to ensure key stakeholders in Zambia, such as government agencies in the Ministry of Health, donors, NGOs and international agencies are introduced to the analysis and able to ensure the information reported is accurate, fair and complete.
The purpose of the Landscape Analysis in the first instance is to inform the more specific Content Framework that will follow. This aims to present the key nutritional priorities for Zambia that health messaging should centre on, such as dietary diversity, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), breastfeeding and care practises.
If you would like to attend the workshop, please send an email stating your name and organisation by Friday 27th March to both Mojca Cargo and Joseph Mulupi .
For more information on GSMA Mobile for Development mHealth, please contact us on [email protected].