Improving Nutrition Health and Well-being Among School Age Children and Adolescents from Evidence to Policy to Action.

In Tanzania, about a third of the total population are adolescents. It is a fact that this population carries the country’s social and economic future development. Unfortunately, despite the national effort to reduce all forms of malnutrition or stunting, this age group stands at a 31.8% prevalence as of 2018.
After childhood, rapid growth occurs during the adolescent age. The physiological changes place a great demand on the adolescent’s nutritional requirements, putting them in a more vulnerable position to morbidity. In addition to malnutrition, anemia causes poor concentration at work and underperforming academically. Even greater concerns lie in the adolescent girls’ future safe motherhood; fetal growth and delivery complications.
The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) has launched the National Agenda to Accelerate Investment for Adolescent Health and Wellbeing (NAIA) and the National School Health Strategic Plan, to prioritize health, education, child protection, equity, gender and inclusiveness, WASH, nutrition, HIV and AIDS services among others. Despite the efforts, there has been a great fragmentation in adolescent nutrition service delivery both from the government and development partners mainly because of slightly weak guidance and coordination in supply and information systems.
For this reason, MoHCDGEC in partnership with UNICEF Tanzania called a two-day stakeholders consultation meeting on the 29th and 30th of August 2019 in Dar es Salaam – Tanzania. Among other key stakeholders, Africa Academy for Public Health (AAPH) was invited to share projects information, evidence, implementation gaps and propose next steps in staging a unified and well-coordinated large-scale effort addressing school age children and adolescent nutrition services.
Discussed topics were; an overview on Programming for Adolescent Nutrition in Tanzania by Nutrition International; NAIA and coordination issues by MoHCDGEC; National School Health Program Strategic Plan and National School feeding guidelines by MoHCDGEC; School feeding project in Mara by Population Concern International (PCI); National Anemia Prevention Guidelines, training manuals and job aids by Tanzania Food and Nutrition Council (TFNC); and Adolescent Nutrition including WIFAS pilot in Simiyu by Simiyu Schools Representatives. Major achievements in this meeting include; development partners coming to a common understanding of national policies, strategies and guidelines on school age and adolescent nutrition, health and wellbeing; acknowledging achievement of existing school age and adolescent nutrition programs; and identifying gaps in terms of policy environment and program implementation for school age and adolescent nutrition, health and wellbeing.
Overall, priority areas to further strengthen policies, tools and programs to improve school age and adolescent nutrition, health and wellbeing were identified and are to be considered in the new policies currently in progress.