19/04/2024
In the framework of the EU4SUN project, a meeting was held in Quito to bring the dialogue on chronic child malnutrition to regional realities in order to achieve greater local representation.
This activity is the culmination of five local meetings that have been held in the last two months in Guayaquil, Cuenca, Riobamba, Tena and Quito, covering the three regions of the country. During the activity, dialogues were held on the territorial socialisation of the State Policy for the prevention and reduction of chronic child malnutrition in Ecuador.
Through this territorial socialisation, the aim is for regional actors to learn about and apply the national policy. To this end, a mapping of actors has been carried out, which has achieved a broad convocation of the segments identified as potential collaborators for this challenge.
For two decades, Ecuador has allocated economic, technical and institutional resources to combat chronic child malnutrition. The prevalence of chronic child malnutrition in the country remains high: according to the National Survey of Child Malnutrition, the percentage of chronic malnutrition for children under 2 years of age was 20.1% in 2023. The ICD is an obstacle to the development of infants, the well-being of their families and the development of the country.
The European EU4SUN project accompanies the process of sustainability of public policy for the prevention and reduction of chronic child malnutrition in Ecuador, with special emphasis on the local level. Part of the strategy is based on seeking new ideas in territorial diversity, as well as exploring different ways of conceiving the problem and proposing solutions. The aim of this activity has been to bring the discussion of child malnutrition to more limited territories and more particular realities.
In the last three years, Ecuador has been the protagonist of an important impulse in the prevention of chronic child malnutrition. This effort has involved the state as well as civil society organisations, academia, the business sector, international cooperation and the media. For the first time, multiple actors and sectors have come together around a National Strategy for the prevention and reduction of chronic child malnutrition, which aims to respond to a structural problem in the country and place children under 2 years of age at the centre of the interest of the State and society.
EU4SUN works hand in hand with the Technical Secretariat Ecuador Grows Without Chronic Child Undernutrition and the Consultative Council for the Prevention and Reduction of Chronic Child Malnutrition.
