The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the UN coordinating body providing leadership and technical support in various health related areas. In Zambia, WHO is working with the NFNC in conducting the Baseline Survey for the first 1000 MCDP in the fourteen pilot districts. It is also supporting nutrition monitoring, evaluation and surveillance systems in the same districts.
WFP has been supporting the nutrition sector in areas of emergency programming and policy. It supported the NFNC in hosting the 2011 Food and Nutrition Consultative Forum together with USAID Zambia, Concern Worldwide Zambia, and Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), the private sector and other partners. It also developed the multi-sector National Food and Nutrition Strategic plan for 2011-2015, conducted the Mapping and Gap Analysis (MGA) for the First 1000 MCDP to create a strong understanding of district needs in order to implement the First 1000 MCDP and more.
The DFID has contributed to improving the nutrition situation in the country by supporting nutrition programmes especially the First 1000 MCDP. It has played a critical role in capacity building which led to the development and sustaining of the BSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Zambia. It is currently supporting the development of the MSc programme in Human Nutrition. It supported the development of the research agenda for Zambia in 2012 through Care International Zambia which led to supporting of research in various areas of the nutrition specific and sensitive interventions. Generally, the DFID has supported the country to scale up implementation of various programmes listed in the minimum package and to develop the coordination structure of the nutrition sector.
UNICEF has been supporting Zambia for decades. Specifically, it has supported the nutrition sector in the development of the MAIYCN guidelines; the management of severe acute malnutrition through the provision of therapeutic nutritious foods, medicines, anthropometric equipment, training of health care workers; water, hygiene and sanitation interventions; the development of the food and nutrition strategic plan; and the 1st 1000 MCDP and Field Worker’s Reference Guide for community health care providers. It has also supported the development, implementation and supervision of micronutrient supplementation, fortification programmes and much more.
The Bank has collaborated with the NFNC on assessment of nutrition institutional strengthening aimed at providing key inputs for government to review the positioning of the NFNC and the implications of the legal framework. It also costed the National Food and Nutrition Action Plan and has provided support in the area of multi-sectorial nutrition monitoring and evaluation.
Irish Aid has been one of the organisations that are putting funding in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) fund basket to scale up the nutrition interventions of the First 1000 MCDP programme.