Everyone Should Take Personal Responsibility for Fighting Child Stunting – Minister Uwimana Consolée.

The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Uwimana Consolée, has called on all institutions in the Province to play a more active role in combating child stunting and malnutrition. She made the appeal during a one-day provincial consultative meeting convened to assess the status of child stunting and malnutrition in the Western Province and discuss strategies to address the challenges.

In her remarks, Minister Uwimana stated that when a child is stunted, he loses part of his potential, and the country, in turn, loses part of the human capital it depends on for its future development. She emphasized that this is why combating child stunting is not a matter of choice but a shared responsibility for everyone. She further noted that stunting has far-reaching consequences for families, communities, and the nation's overall development.     The Minister acknowledged the progress made by the Western Province in reducing the prevalence of stunting, which currently stands at 32.7 percent. However, she urged every district to conduct a thorough analysis of the specific factors contributing to persistent stunting within their respective areas and to implement targeted interventions that address the underlying causes.

Governor of the Western Province, Jean Bosco Ntibitura, noted that the Province remains among those with a high number of children under the age of five affected by stunting. According to the 2025 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the prevalence of child stunting in the Western Province is at 32.7 percent. He stated, "The journey ahead requires strong collaboration and dedicated efforts to reduce the current stunting rate of 32.7 percent to at least 15 percent by 2029." The Governor further explained that following the release of these findings, the Provincial leadership, district authorities, and development partners agreed on several key interventions. These include the rollout of the "Professional Umuganda" initiative across all districts, strengthening collaboration with development partners to intensify awareness campaigns on the first 1,000 days of a child's life as well as improving the monitoring and use of child growth monitoring cards.

Additional commitments made during the meeting include integrating malnutrition and stunting prevention activities into development partners' programs, encouraging families with young children to participate in and support Early Childhood Development (ECD), and establishing childcare centers at workplaces with large numbers of employees. Participants also underscored the importance of supporting vulnerable households by linking them to employment and livelihood opportunities to improve household incomes and ensure better access to nutritious food. During the meeting, various development partners presented their ongoing interventions and reaffirmed their commitment to working closely with local authorities to accelerate efforts aimed at eliminating child malnutrition and stunting across all districts.