Attachments
Operational Updates
- The government of Tunisia, with technical assistance from WFP, undertook a Fill the Nutrient Gap analysis in 2021-2022 to mobilize multisectoral stakeholders to build consensus on how to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious food to reduce malnutrition. WFP has published the document in July with recommendations articulated around 5 main areas:
- School feeding and health: recommended strengthening and expanding the school canteen programme as well as nutrition education.
- Micronutrient supplementation and fortification: recommended fortification of wheat flour and building capacity of actors included in the fortification process, and iron supplementation especially for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
- Social protection: recommended reviewing the targeting strategies of social assistance programmes making them more nutrition- sensitive.
- Agriculture: recommended a nutrition-sensitive agricultural development strategy.
The FNG analysis shows that for a typical household, the monthly cost of a nutritious diet ranges from TND 133 to 239 and is about 4.5 times higher than a staple- based diet that meets only energy needs. It also shows that more than a third of households in the central- western and north-western governorates cannot access nutritious food, with a strong impact on their dietary diversity.
Although the National Programme for Assistance to Vulnerable Families (PNAFN) has the potential to partially cover the cost of nutritious food, it is still insufficient. Without cash transfers, households in the lowest food expenditure percentiles would only be able to cover 31 percent of the cost of a nutritious diet.
Fortification of essential foods is one way to increase access to micronutrients and help reduce micronutrient deficiencies. School meals also offer an opportunity to help meet the nutritional needs of young school children and adolescents.