The National Child Development Agency (NCDA), government institutions and development partners have committed to establishing a technical advisory group to guide the assessment and piloting of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS). The move aims to support a possible national scale-up of the supplements as part of efforts to address nutritional deficiencies among children aged six to 23 months.

The commitment was announced on Thursday, October 15, during the closing ceremony of a three-day international symposium in Kigali that brought together nutrition experts and partners to share scientific evidence and practical approaches to tackling child malnutrition in Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Benin.

Co-organised by Nutriset and the HealthyStart Project and hosted by King Faisal Hospital Rwanda Foundation, the symposium was supported by the French Embassy in Rwanda and the Sight and Life Foundation.

SQ-LNS are nutrient-dense supplements containing essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and other nutrients needed for healthy growth and development. Research has shown that they can help reduce the risk of stunting, wasting and anaemia among young children, particularly when provided alongside appropriate infant and young child feeding practices.

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Speaking at the closing ceremony, Gilbert Munyemana, Deputy Director General of NCDA, said the symposium had provided valuable lessons to guide Rwanda&039;s efforts to introduce innovative initiatives namely the supplements through a local pilot programme.

He said Rwanda could draw on international evidence while generating its own findings to determine how best to implement the intervention in the country's context.

"From this symposium, we have learnt a lot that will help us in the pilot programme. We have global evidence, but we also need local evidence. Sometimes such studies take five years, but we are not going to wait that long because we have this stepwise methodology,” Munyemana said.

"If something works, we can start implementing it. That is why we are going to set up a technical advisory group on SQ-LNS.”

Munyemana said experiences shared by countries such as Burkina Faso and Benin offered valuable lessons for Rwanda as it seeks to accelerate progress in reducing child stunting.

"As Rwanda, we have learnt a lot, and it is going to guide us in the journey of fighting stunting. We need to be more creative by bringing in different ingredients so that we can reduce stunting by at least three per cent instead of one per cent [annually] and explore different ways of local production ,” he said.

Experts call for stronger partnerships

Mamane Zeilani, Director of External Research and Nutrition Strategies at Nutriset, said one of the key lessons from the symposium was that child malnutrition is a shared challenge across countries, although interventions must be adapted to different communities and settings.

"One main takeaway is that it is a common problem, but there is no single solution that fits all contexts,” Zeilani said, citing experiences from Rwanda, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, where SQ-LNS products are being tested.

He called for greater collaboration among governments, researchers, non-governmental organisations and private-sector partners to expand access to effective nutrition interventions.

"I believe in champions and in mutual collaboration between organisations because we are working towards the same goal of improving child nutrition,” he said.

Zeilani also proposed holding future meetings to assess progress, share experiences and identify solutions to implementation challenges as countries work towards expanding the reach of nutrition programmes.

Participants recommend stronger community engagement

During the symposium's final day, participants held group discussions on sustainable supply chains, last-mile delivery to communities, information systems, training, data collection, reporting and digitalisation.

They also examined ways to strengthen community engagement and encourage the sustained uptake of SQ-LNS in both the short and long term.

Among the recommendations were raising awareness of the supplements among pregnant women and caregivers, exploring the use of locally available ingredients such as peanuts to support domestic production, and improving access to the products in rural communities.

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Participants emphasised that effective delivery systems, community awareness and sustained collaboration would be essential to ensuring that children who need nutritional support can benefit from the intervention.

King Faisal Hospital commends participants for advancing child nutrition solutions

Dr Edgar Kalimba, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Hospital, commended the participants and partner organisations for their engagement throughout the three-day symposium.

He said the discussions had demonstrated a strong willingness among experts and stakeholders to share knowledge and contribute to solutions for child malnutrition.

"I was really blown away by the engagement. Everybody was engaged and contributing,” Kalimba said.

He also thanked government representatives, international experts and partner organisations, including Nutriset and Sight and Life, for their contributions, stressing the importance of continued collaboration in addressing malnutrition.

The symposium concluded with a call for partners to build on the knowledge shared in Kigali and translate the recommendations into practical interventions that can lead to better child nutrition and accelerate efforts to reduce stunting in Rwanda and beyond.