The NIPFN web portal was launched by the CAS National Treasury and Planning Mr. Eric Wafukho on 16th June 2022 during the KIPPRA@25 silver jubilee celebratory dinner. In his remarks, he acknowledged with thanks the financial support from the European Union together with Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the NIPFN project. “The country still welcomes such support to ensure that food and nutrition security issues are adequately addressed”.
Multiple sectors contribute to the immediate, underlying, and basic determinants of food security and nutrition. These same stakeholders graced the web portal launch which is a multi-sector web platform hosting food and nutrition-related data, information, and publications. NIPFN has collected information from various sources to facilitate a multi-sectoral analysis of the food and nutrition situation in Kenya.
As indicated in the NIPFN dashboard, the nutrition situation in Kenya is dire. Particularly, we note that there is 60% prevalence of zinc deficiency among pregnant women. This information was sourced from the Kenya Nutrition Management System. Furthermore, an analysis of the population with raised blood pressure or are currently on medication as per STEPWISE survey 2015, stands at 24%. Moreover, the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) of 2014 indicate that about 26% (1.5 million) of children under the age of five years are stunted while nearly 4% are wasted and 11% are underweight.
Consequently, there is need for a national nutrition platform for monitoring to track progress. Despite having nutrition interventions and reports, this information is scattered. Through the NIPFN portal, nutrition information is continuously being consolidated, summarized, and visualized at a central place. Thus, one can determine whether the nutrition information in Kenya is improving or not.
It is envisioned that the platform will enhance the dissemination and use of information, to better inform strategic decisions and thereby advance achievement of optimal nutrition. Furthermore, through the NIPFN portal, KIPPRA and KNBS are identifying areas to advise Government priorities to accelerate progress of preventing malnutrition and mitigate food security.
The web portal has summarized statistics on food and nutrition, visualized data information and has a central repository of data accessible At a Click of a Button here https:nipfn.knbs.or.ke and in a ready to use format, to guide on Government policies and strategies.
