Kenya, like many other countries, is striving to address the complex and multifaceted challenges of malnutrition.

According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2022), 18 per cent of children under five are stunted, 10 per cent are underweight and nearly half of pregnant women suffer from iron deficiency anaemia

Director of Nutrition and Dietetics Services, Ministry of Health Veronica Kirogo said during a media toolkit dissemination and media review workshop organised by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), that these statistics were “a call to action.”

“Malnutrition continues to cost our nation dearly, with losses estimated at Ksh373.9 billion annually – an equivalent to 6.9 per cent of our GDP (gross domestic product),” said Kirogo, in a speech read on her behalf by Project Officer in the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of Nutrition Emmanuel Mwenda.

Kirogo explained that the government recognises that to reverse this trend, there was need to go beyond health interventions alone.

The ministry of health, through the Catalysing Strengthened Policy Action for Healthy Diets and Resilience (CASCADE) project under GAIN and in partnership with county governments and development partners, is committed to strengthening multi-sectoral approaches, especially at the community level to address the problem, Kirogo said.

She termed the CASCADE media toolkit as an important step in aligning communication and advocacy efforts.

“The media, as the fourth estate, is a powerful partner in influencing public perception, policy decisions and community behaviour. By equipping media champions with accurate, consistent, and evidence-based nutrition messaging, we can foster greater public understanding, accountability and ultimately, stimulate policy and resource action,” the director said.

She further said that the workshop is an opportunity to build the capacity of media stakeholders on cross-cutting themes such as climate resilience, social protection, gender and food systems, areas that are increasingly critical in shaping nutrition outcomes.

“Let us use this platform to learn from one another, harmonize our messages, and most importantly, recommit to ensuring that every Kenyan, especially the most vulnerable, has the opportunity to live a healthy and nourished life,” Karogo said.

Giving Nairobi County’s nutrition situation, the County Nutrition Coordinator Jessica Mbochi said the malnutrition burden among children below five years stands at stunting 11 per cent (65,756), wasting at 3 per cent (17,934,) underweight 15 per cent (59,778) and overweight (35,867), while women of reproductive age at 57 per cent are overweight.

She explained that some of the key drivers boil down to low physical activity, food insecurity, poor childcare practices (especially day-cares), poor water, sanitation and hygiene (wash), high disease burden and also high maternal workload.

Mbochi, however, said that the county has been carrying out interventions at facility levels in terms of maternal child health, micronutrient supplementation, integrated management of acute malnutrition, diet therapy and baby friendly hospital initiatives.

“At the school level, they have been engaged in the school feeding programme dubbed Dishi na County and nutrition sessions which include iodine tests in salt and deworming,” she said.  

In the Kenya Nutrition Situation overview, micronutrient deficiency shows over half (52.6 per cent) of the preschool children and 37.6 per cent of school-age children suffer from marginal vitamin A deficiency, and one-in-four (26.3 per cent) of preschool children are anaemic and 41.6percent of pregnant women are also anaemic.

According to Mwenda, the government has included nutrition priority interventions in the Medium-Term Plan IV of Vision 2030 (2023-2027) and over 40 counties have developed and are implementing county nutrition action plans.

The Kenya Nutrition Situation also shows that the economic impact associated with undernutrition is quite significant, with far-reaching effects on health, education and productivity, with every dollar invested in nutrition having the potential to result in USD 22 in economic returns in Kenya.

Kenya faces the triple burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity.

According to GAINs, CASCADE project, media plays a critical role when it comes to nutrition communication, and therefore the media tool that was finalized in January 2025 would be key and be an important advocacy platform that could be used to sensitize the public on good nutrition practices such as dietary diversity, consumption of locally produced nutritious foods, exclusive breastfeeding, and appropriate complementary feeding, among others.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Wangari Ndirangu

Jessica Mbochi, Nairobi County Nutrition Coordinator, presents the county nutrition situation at a media workshop in Naivasha on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.