Switzerland extends support to improve nutrition in Oudomxay, Huaphan

The government of Switzerland has committed US$6.8 million through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to roll out the second phase of a project to improve nutrition among upland farming families in Oudomxay and Huaphan provinces.
A Memorandum of Understanding on the second phase of the project was signed on Friday by the Director GeneraI of the Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion, Ministry of Health, Dr Phonepaseuth Ounaphom, and Country Director of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Laos, Bangladesh and Myanmar, Dr Allert van den Ham
Phase II of the project will run from the signing date until June 2024.

It will build upon the successes made in Phase I and aims to improve family nutrition in remote and ethnically diverse upland farming communities through improved feeding, caregiving and dietary practices; reduced incidence of water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases, nutrition sensitive agriculture; and a more conducive policy and institutional environment.
The project made remarkable progress in Phase I, based on a neutral external review. The overall prevalence of stunting decreased from 42 percent in 2016 to 38 percent in 2020 in project target villages.
The percentage of households with improved sanitation facilities increased from 75 percent in 2016 to 92 percent in 2020. This resulted in a decrease in the percentage of children aged 6-23 months reported to have had diarrhea within the last two weeks from 24 percent in 2016 to 11 percent in 2020.
Twenty percent of farming families reported to have applied four new nutritious food crops and the percentage of households selling food crops increased from 28 percent to 65 percent.
The Ministry of Health’s National Nutrition Centre will continue to host the project with technical support from the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, aiming to implement an innovative and scalable multispectral nutrition project in Oudomxay and Huaphan provinces.
The second phase of the project is in line with the National Nutrition Strategy and the Upland Development Strategy.
SDC’s Deputy Director for the Mekong Region, Mr Christian Engler, highlighted the key achievements made in Phase I and said he was pleased to provide a similar amount of additional funding for Phase II.
Dr van den Ham said he would like the project to put more emphasis on capacity building, increase ownership and sustain the achievements made in Phase I.
SNV Laos thanked both the donor and government for their commitment and excellent contribution to support for the target communities in improving their nutrition status and livelihoods.
Dr Phonepaseuth, as a chairperson at the signing ceremony, expressed his gratitude to the donor, the Swiss government, and to Mr Engler and Dr van den Ham for understanding the nutritional needs of communities and families and continuing to provide support to tackle the problems faced in improving the nutrition of families in the target areas.
Under-nutrition leads to enormous economic costs for Laos, he said.
Current rates of maternal and child malnutrition represent a loss of human capital, potentially costing Laos an estimated 2.4 percent of GDP annually.
Recognising the persistently high rates of malnutrition in Laos, the government has shown strong commitment to addressing the root causes by implementing the National Nutrition Strategy to 2025 and the Plan of Action 2016-2025, which provide the framework and strategic directions to combat malnutrition.

By Phetphoxay Sengpaseuth
(Latest Update January 11, 2021)