Social Protection and Child Malnutrition in Kenya: Greater coordination and better targeting needed

Child malnutrition represents a significant and pressing development challenge in Kenya. Even before the most recent food crisis, Kenya was classified as having a serious hunger problem. Limited progress in both child and maternal nutrition remains a serious concern. Although the proportion of underweight and stunted children declined between 2000 and 2003, there was almost no change between 2003 and 2008–09.

Spending on social safety nets has grown significantly over the past few years, and particularly from 2008 onwards. Over the last few years, the government and development partners have made significant strides towards designing an integrated social protection infrastructure. However, existing evidence suggests that social protection programming to date has had a mixed impact. And insufficient attention has been given to how social protection interventions can best contribute to tackling child malnutrition, despite abundant evidence of the enormous economic burden of child malnutrition in the country.

Those most vulnerable to malnutrition – infants, young children, pregnant women and lactating mothers – have not been sufficiently covered or adequately targeted in current programmes. There is also a need for greater coordination and stronger links between programmes and interventions.