The National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (Conasan) approved at the end of March to carry out a new Height Census in Schoolchildren. This indicator, which has not been carried out for 10 years, measures growth retardation and the degree of severity of chronic malnutrition.
Analysts consulted highlighted the importance of the data that can be obtained, although they also identified some challenges such as political will and the budget. It is expected to start in August, so the authorities of the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (Sesan) with the Ministry of Education (Minedec) have already begun rapprochements.
For this study, teachers are required to collect data so that the delay in height or chronic malnutrition can be measured based on the measurements of children in first grade.
This is the fifth census that has been carried out since 1986. There is no established periodicity since the second was in 2001, then seven years later and the most recent in 2015. However, experts point out that what is recommended is every five years.
The former Secretary of Food Security, Luis Monterroso, explained that what the height census measures is the impact of previous governments on nutrition. When a child reaches first grade is between 6 and 9 years old, the data will demonstrate the functionality of the Thousand Day Window program, which covers the first two years of life.
“It is a stage in which we already have the precision of what effect the public food security policy had in the periods practically of former presidents Alejandro Giammattei and Jimmy Morales,” Monterroso pointed out.
Four phases
The census is in charge of Sesan, ten years ago when the last survey was carried out, the owner was Monterroso, who coordinated the entire procedure. The former secretary explained that the methodology consists of four stages and in each of them the obstacles might be different.
The first is coordination, which is currently being developed. In this, the necessary approaches and respective cooperation must be made. In the words of the former secretary, political will is required in this phase.
In this regard, the former coordinator of the Consultation and Social Participation Body (Incopas), Tobías Tzoc, also agreed on the existence of political will at this stage. “I believe that with guidelines from the ministerial level and through the field it might be implemented, but everything starts from political will,” he commented.
In addition, a few months ago the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (Sesan), the entity that coordinates the study, had the first meetings with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA ) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for cooperation.
The National Statistics Institute (INE), the Nutrition Institute of Central America and Panama (Incap), the Regional Food and Nutritional Security Program for Central America (Presanca II), the Regional Systems Program participated in the last census that was carried out. of Information in SAN (Presisan), with financing from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aecid).
The next phase is the training of teachers so that they can carry out the measurements with the tools that will be provided to them. The third stage is the provision of instruments and the last is the recommendation of information. These phases depend directly on the consensus achieved in the coordination.
“While it is true that the international community has to support, the government also has to make a budgetary forecast for certain inputs, for certain amounts that are reached in agreements,” Monterroso explained.
He added that the budget is one of the challenges of the study, since it must be coordinated between the international community and the entities. He did not provide an estimated amount, but said that the cost of the height meters is high.
Monterroso also expects that the results will be available by the end of this year. After field work, it might take regarding two or three months for final data processing.
Importance
Tzoc recognizes that the study is relevant for the correct planning of programs that focus on combating malnutrition.
“With this updated information, I consider that the government strategies that can be taken or programs of the ministries might be focused, but also at the local level there are public management spaces for food security,” he highlighted.
For the Great National Crusade for Nutrition there is a budget of Q600 million. In the last National Council for Urban and Rural Development (Conadur) the funds were distributed, but following a summons it was clarified that the budget distribution would be done once more among the 340 municipalities, since the data used was from 2015.
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