By Eric Ziribagwa Ogott

With food insecurity and malnutrition affecting many in the region it is important to seek out long-term solutions to food insecurity, with this in mind the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) launched a regional technical working group today, in Nairobi.
The Learning Network on Nutrition Surveillance (LeNNS) with the support of the US Agency for International Development, hosted its first technical meeting, with the goal of establishing effective policies, advocacy and action planning around nutrition in the region.Dr. Patrick Amoth, Director General – Ministry of Health, Republic of Kenya indicated that the LeNNS will promote the generation of timely information and evidence and improve on how the information is used to inform effective policies, strategies and programs across the region. He reiterated the need for the network to address pragmatic and pressing food and nutrition challenges in the region.
The LeNNS is an opportunity to map the countries’ and institutional actions in nutrition surveillance, develop a deeper understanding of the needs for nutrition surveillance in the region and discuss viable ways of strengthening the linkages among different actors in nutrition surveillance.
“Malnutrition and food insecurity pose major threats to global, regional and national social economic and development goals,” said John Kuehnle, USAID Health Population and Nutrition Office Director. “USAID is committed to working with countries to strengthen national nutrition information systems, sub-national nutrition data availability and use, and capacity strengthening around nutrition data.”
Dr. Patrick Amoth, Director General – Ministry of Health, Republic of Kenya indicated that the LeNNS will promote the generation of timely information and evidence and improve on how the information is used to inform effective policies, strategies and programs across the region. He reiterated the need for the network to address pragmatic and pressing food and nutrition challenges in the region.
The Ag. Director General Ministry of Health, Kenya Dr. Patrick Amoth, the USAID Director of Health Population and Nutrition, John Khuenle and the IGAD Head of Mission to the Republic of Kenya, Dr. Fatuma Adan officially inaugurated the Learning Network on Nutrition Surveillance (LeNNS). This event was held at Weston Hotel, Nairobi Kenya. Others in attendance were the relevant government ministries, departments and agencies, universities, research institutions and other nutrition stakeholders in the region. Countries represented in the launch were: Djibouti, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
The USAID supported LeNNS is an opportunity for regional learning about nutritional surveillance that can be applied to solve the pressing problems everyone is dealing with now and into the future.