Democratic Republic of the Congo

Project Name: Integrated infant and young child nutrition and lipid-based nutrient supplement program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Start Date: September, 2009

Background

Among children <5 years of age in DRC, 46% are stunted, 10% are wasted, 6% are severely wasted, and 25% are underweight.  The prevalence of anemia is 74% among children 6-59 mo of age.¹ In an effort to improve the nutritional status of children in DRC, an integrated infant and young child nutrition and lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS) program is being established. The overall goal of the program is to decrease the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency and improve feeding practices among children 6-12 months of age.

Purpose

IMMPaCt will aid in developing a childhood anemia reduction and prevention project by providing technical assistance to help design, monitor and evaluate an integrated infant and young child feeding and LNS program (home-fortification / complementary feeding) in both pilot and scale-up phases. IMMPaCt will also support an impact evaluation of the national flour fortification program in DRC.

Future Plans

• Scale-up the home-fortification / complementary feeding program after completion of the pilot phase
• Develop a monitoring and evaluation system

Partners

• UNICEF

References

1. UNICEF Country Profiles: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/drcongo_636.html

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