Mobilizing Local Governments To Prevent Child Stunting

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This Policy note reviews the current international and national focus on child stunting prevention, including health and nutrition programs and status of nutrition outcomes among mothers and children. It finds that while the national government has already devolved the implementation of health and nutrition programs, these interventions have yet to produce sufficient national impact. It notes a number of factors that limit the performance of local governments in the prevention of child stunting. These include the difficulty of aligning their priorities with national targets, aggravated by inadequate local data for priority setting, and the limited local resources for health and nutrition. To address these issues, the study urges the national government to develop a comprehensive national guideline and operational strategies to guide local governments and likewise suggests adoption of local nutrition ordinances that implement the national law. Moreover, it argues that ensuring the implementation of stunting prevention program at scale across local governments to produce national impact requires reducing the large inequalities in financial capacity that currently exist.