The Contribution Of “Gira Inka” Programme To Malnutrition Reduction Of Children Under Five Years In Rwanda

Table of contents

0. OBSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

3. PROPBLEM STATEMENT

4. METHODOLOGY

5. FINDINGS
5.1. Family members’ nutrition status before and after receiving a cow
5.2. Families’ monthly income before and after receiving cow
5.3. Daily meals taken before and after receiving cow
5.4. Constraints of Gira Inka programme
5.5. The strategies to overcome the challenges of Gira Inka programme

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMANDATIONS

7. LIST OF FIGURES

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

0. OBSTRACT

Good nutrition a good indicator for a country’s sustainable development. It contributes to achieving the country’s objectives, to which Rwanda has committed itself in his Millennium Development Goals. Malnutrition in an individual or at the community level impacts negatively on the well-being of the individual as well as on the community’s development. To help people get out of this precarious situation and its consequences, the Rwandan government has implemented various strategies against malnutrition including: "Gira Inka" programme. Therefore, this study on the Gira Inka programme in the fight against malnutrition of children less than five years, particularity in Fumbwe sector. The study adopted a descriptive design and scientific methods and techniques have been used and facilitated the researcher to find the study results through the procedures used for the collection, analysis of data and interpretation. The data were collected through questionnaires. The data were and analysed with SPSS v21, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis were used.

The results of this study show that the programme Gira Inka has positive impact on fight against malnutrition for children less than five years. The Gira Inka contributed to the fighting against malnutrition in children under five years. The excellent nutrition status has increased from 0% to 63%, the family income between 21,000 to 30,000 Rwf increased from 9% to 27% and the most families have greater than 30,000 Rwf from 1% to 47%. The families which had one meal per day decreased from 55% to 1% after assisted by Gira Inka program, families with two meals per day decreased from 42% to 22%, families with 3 meals per day increase from 1% to 27% and above 3 meals per day increased from 1% to 48%.

1. INTRODUCTION

Good nutrition is a good indicator for a country’s sustainable development. It contributes to achieving the country’s objectives, to which Rwanda has committed itself in his Millennium Development Goals. Malnutrition in an individual or at the community level impacts negatively on the well-being of the individual as well as on the community’s development (MOH, 2005). To help people get out of this precarious situation and its consequences, the Rwandan government has implemented various strategies against malnutrition including: "Gira Inka program” means “Have a cow" program. However, the situation of nutrition remains dangerous as the national prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition remain high contributing directly or indirectly to the high infant mortality rate in country (IRD, 2005).

Malnutrition remains a major problem of public health in tropical countries where it occurs as pests.

Therefore, this study conducted on the Gira Inka/Have a Cow programme in fighting against malnutrition of children less than five years, particularity in Fumbwe sector in Rwamagana District Eastern Province.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Malnutrition is estimated at more than half of the children who die each year around the world. According to the French Institute of Research for Development, more than half of the world population of 0-5 years is affected by malnutrition (IRD, 2002).

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report entitled " The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005 " states that nearly 6 million children in the world die each year from diseases related to hunger and malnutrition. But the problem is noticed more in developing countries where malnutrition is the leading cause of death (FAO, 2005).

Industrialized countries are marked by excess malnutrition (obesity); against developing countries suffer from malnutrition due to deficiency.

In developing countries, about 183 million children suffer from the weight for age (chronic malnutrition), 67 million are underweight for height (wasting & acute malnutrition), and 226 million have the size to age indicating growth retardation (FAO, 2005).

According to the Provincial Council Planning (PCP), almost 4 out of 10 children in South Kivu do not have the chance to celebrate their 2nd birthday, lack of food to eat. The infant mortality rate during the first year, which was 31.5% in 1989 in the province, is estimated at 47.6% in 2008, according to Strategy Document for Growth and Reduction of Poverty. Over 70% of children show signs of malnutrition, according to the National Nutrition Programme in South Kivu section. (Syfia, 2009).

According to the DHS (2005), conducted in Rwanda quoted by (FAO, 2006); moderate chronic malnutrition, which causes growth retardation (ratio of height for age), affects 45% of children under five years, while 19% suffer from severe chronic malnutrition. Malnutrition trends closely follow the characteristics of poverty. Thus, in the poorest households, 31% of children are underweight moderate against 10% in the richest households.

3. PROPBLEM STATEMENT

Nearly one billion people living currently in conditions of life lives in absolute poverty with an income of less than one U.S. dollar per day (FAO, 2006).

In general, in developing countries, more than one in four children is underweight and a proportion that exceeds one in two children in the poorest countries. These children are very vulnerable to diseases and many people never reach adulthood. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of more than half of infant mortality. As for the survivors, who become adults, they find themselves facing a future often marked by hunger, lack of shelter, illiteracy and unemployment (FAO, 2006).

Rwanda is classified as 159th place in 177 pays ranked by the Human Development Index on the list of the poorest countries in the world, with a population of about ten million of which over 90% live in rural areas and depend mainly on agriculture (HDI, 2004).

Rwandan agriculture is dominated by subsistence food crops and only two main crops for export, including coffee and tea. Dependence of the Rwandan economy regarding these two cash crops weighs heavily on its development programme. The falling prices of these two products on the world market have led to a reduction in export revenues 14% to 10% from 1998 to 1999. Domestic investment remains low, the savings rate is very low and poverty is increasing. This can be seen from the increase in the number of households living below the poverty line was 40%, 53% and 69% respectively in 1985, 1989 and 2000 (FAO, 2006).

Relative to food standards established by the FAO the food balance sheet in Rwanda stands at 87% for calories, 70% protein and 22% for the periods from 2000 to 2003. The deficit in the coverage of food needs is general for both proteins for energy, but the deficit remains the main lipid chronic characteristic. 90% of Rwandan households cultivate traditional foods. To fill gaps in relation to the production needs Rwanda and its partner’s recourse on imports and food aid (FAO, 2006).

To help people get out of this precarious situation and its consequences, the Rwandan government has implemented various strategies against poverty including: the programme "Gira Inka" (a cow to a poor family), the "Ubudehe" in favour of the poorest households than others.

The "Gira Inka" was designed to target the most vulnerable families to help fight poverty in general and Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) in particular. Gira Inka programme (One cow per poor Family) was inspired by the Rwandan culture and initiated by His Excellency the President of the Republic in 2006. There is 6 years ago that the programme exists for against the malnutrition but the malnutrition problem persists. It is crucial to make an evaluative study of "Gira Inka" programme to better identify its contribution to the reduction of malnutrition. Comparing the nutritional status of families receiving bitter than before the intervention programme, in addition, the comparison of the nutritional status of beneficiary families to those witnesses will generate the programme's effectiveness. Given that the main objective of the programme "Gira Inka" was to reduce the malnutrition and the choice of beneficiary families was based on the degree of vulnerability, since 2006, 4381 Families of Fumbwe sector have benefited from these cows.

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