Introduction – Turning Rapid Growth into Meaningful Growth: Sustaining the Commitment to Nutrition in Zambia

Zambia suffers high levels of child stunting and is struggling to achieve the nutrition-related MDGs, with significant constraints in the provision of services to address every one of the underlying determinants of undernutrition. Motivated by increasing advocacy for nutrition under the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, the Zambian government pledged in June 2013 to cut chronic malnutrition by half over the next ten years. The country has come some way recently in creating coherent policies and strategies for nutrition, and has had some notable successes. However, important challenges remain, not least in coordination, capacity, finances and evidence. This article argues that if these challenges are to be met, political attention is not enough. Sustained focus and country ownership are needed to implement the necessary nutrition programmes across sectors, and real political and system commitment to reducing the number of malnourished children in Zambia is required in order to translate recent interest into impact.