Accelerating progress in micronutrient deficiencies in Mozambique: A Ministry of Health perspective

In Mozambique, one in every two children is stunted (MISAU, INE, & ICFI, 2013). This means that the future productive and intellectual capacity of half of Mozambicans may be less than optimal—essentially greatly reducing the country's chance to develop human capital and break the cycle of poverty. Adequate nutrition, beginning in a mother's womb, is the foundation to ensure good physical and mental development and long‐term health for every individual. A series of papers outlining key interventions to address maternal and child undernutrition in The Lancet in 2008 and subsequently in 2013 showed that undernutrition contributes to an estimated 45% of deaths in children under the age of 5 years (Horton, 2008; Horton, 2013). This finding ignited a renewed focus around maternal and child nutrition in the global development agenda through the following commitments: (a) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number two set forth the goal of ending hunger by 2030 (United Nations General Assembly, 2015); (b) a roadmap to achieve the SDGs was set forward in The Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, 2016–2030 (United Nations, 2015); (c) an action plan for achieving a set of targets by 2025 for reducing nutrition conditions that are responsible for a large burden of nutrition‐related morbidity and mortality in women and children that complement SDG2 is presented in the Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition (WHO, 2014). The Government of Mozambique has recognized stunting as a development issue and demonstrated its commitment to reducing stunting from 44% in 2010 to 20% by 2020 by approving the Multisectoral Plan for Chronic Malnutrition Reduction in Mozambique 2011–2014 (Government of the Republic of Mozambique, 2010). The plan includes several interventions to be implemented by different government sectors to reduce the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies among preschool age children (e.g., micronutrient supplementation and food fortification), which is a serious public health problem. Data reveal that 69% of Mozambican children 6–59 months are deficient in Vitamin A (MISAU, 2006), and 63.8% of children in this age range are affected by anaemia (MISAU, INE, & ICFI, 2015). Over the past two decades, addressing micronutrient deficiencies in children under 5 years of age as well as women of reproductive age (15–49 years) has been a top priority of the health sector in Mozambique. Now is the time to assess the progress made to date