Summary Introduction Malnutrition is a multifactorial problem, and multisectoral planning is an indispensable tool. The objective of this study was (a) to evaluate the extent to which nutrition is integrated into policies and (b) to describe the process used by the government of Burkina Faso to reform its policy frameworks and multisectoral nutrition planning. Methods This was a qualitative study, and data were collected in two key steps: first, through a policy overview conducted in 2015 and, second, in November 2017, through a document review and individual stakeholder interviews with 32 key actors involved in national nutrition planning. Results The extent to which nutrition is integrated into development policies varied from one sector to another. Since 2014, Burkina Faso has initiated nutrition planning through a multisectoral approach involving six sectors. This process was implemented in three key stages. Progress includes revision of national nutrition policy towards multisectoral perspective, formulation of a consensual and quality multisectoral nutrition strategic plan, creation of nutrition budget line, and establishment of nutrition technical secretariat. Conclusion To improve the anchoring of multisectoral coordination bodies at the supra‐ministerial level, mobilizing resources and promoting sector accountability are key next steps that would contribute to the success of the implementation.

Background: The government of Burkina Faso, along with the United Nations Network for Nutrition (UNN), activity REACH (Renewed Efforts Against Child Hunger and undernutrition) partnership, conducted a mapping of nutrition interventions and stakeholders to identify the best approaches for scaling up priority nutrition interventions and to strengthen a multisectoral response to fight malnutrition. Objective: The objectives include describing the process used to map a set of country-prioritized nutrition interventions and to describe how the results contributed to the multisectoral nutrition planning process in Burkina Faso. Methods: The mapping exercise was designed as a cross-sectional study using the Excel-based Scaling Up Nutrition Planning and Monitoring Tool (SUN PMT) to collect, store, and analyze data. Results: The results present different analyses produced by the SUN PMT for 29 prioritized nutrition interventions. The analyses include the distribution of nutrition stakeholders for each intervention, the calculation of geographic and population coverage for each intervention, and the utilization of delivery mechanisms to reach beneficiaries. Conclusions: The mapping of key nutrition interventions and stakeholders supporting those interventions in Burkina Faso was an important tool in the multisectoral planning process. The exercise made it possible to identify gaps and needs; launch a discussion on nutrition planning and the scaling up of interventions; and mobilize sectors and development partners around nutrition.

Objectives: To identify the drivers and challenges of successful nutrition programme implementation in a multisectoral, community-level approach to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in northern Burkina Faso. Design: A qualitative study was conducted in 2019 through (i) individual interviews with key informants from five different sectors (health, agriculture, environment, livestock and education) and association staff, agents and community leaders and (ii) focus groups with mothers of children under the age of 2 years. Setting: Three health districts in the northern region of Burkina Faso implemented a multisectoral community nutrition programme to improve IYCF practices. Participants: Forty-seven implementing actors and twenty-four beneficiary mothers. Results: Factors influencing successful implementation include community participation; sector commitment and involvement; the existence of nutrition champions; capacity building; the integration of interventions; micronutrient powder distribution; the introduction of nutrition-sensitive interventions, such as the promotion of the consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes; improved food production and small livestock rearing and the effective coordination of actors and complementary funding. The main challenges of the implementation of multisectorality are low participation among nutrition-sensitive sectors, a tendency for siloed work among sectors, scheduling conflicts, high actor mobility, differences in the target population by sector, a lack of technical skills among community workers, insufficient financial resources, low geographic convergence and coverage of beneficiaries, a lack of a multisectoral monitoring mechanism and accountability and insecurity. Conclusions: Strengthening sector participation, identifying a common targeting strategy and mobilising financial resources have the potential to significantly reduce barriers and improve the quality of implementation.

Introduction: Burkina Faso is a landlocked West African country, where livelihoods are heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, and the humanitarian crisis has increased the populations’ vulnerability to malnutrition. Aim: This article presents an update of the food and nutrition situation. Methodology: Documents from government surveys and reports, peer-reviewed articles and other reliable sources were retrieved and analyzed. Results: According to the 2019 National Nutrition Survey, 25.4% of children under 5 years old are stunted and 8.1% are wasted. These rates exceed the WHO critical thresholds suggesting that child malnutrition is still a public health problem in Burkina although trend analysis suggests continuous improvement over the past ten years. Childhood overweight fluctuates between 1% and 2% while childhood obesity remains below 1% since 2014. Poor infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are key drivers of child stunting. In fact, 59% of infants are exclusively breastfed while only 17% of 6 – 23-month children receive a minimally acceptable diet. Children and pregnant and lactating women are deeply affected by micronutrient deficiencies including vitamin A and iron. Adult overweight is on the rise and high blood pressure and diabetes levels have reached 18% and 5% respectively in adults aged 25 to 64 years with huge disparities between men and women. Conclusion: While the country had made important progress in reducing child malnutrition, it is still facing a double burden of malnutrition namely undernutrition comprised of stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies and overweight/obesity, hence the need to embrace a double duty approach to policy response to simultaneously reduce both undernutrition and overweight/obesity. Keywords: Nutritional status, micronutrient, food security, non-communicable disease, Burkina Faso.

Over the recent decades, Extreme Precipitation Events (EPE) have become more frequent over the Sahel. Their properties, however, have so far received little attention. In this study the spatial distribution, intensity, seasonality and interannual variability of EPEs are examined, using both a reference dataset, based on a high-density rain-gauge network over Burkina Faso and 24 precipitation gridded datasets. The gridded datasets are evaluated in depth over Burkina Faso while their commonalities are used to document the EPE properties over the Sahel. EPEs are defined as the occurrence of daily-accumulated precipitation exceeding the all-day 99th percentile over a 1°x1° pixel. Over Burkina Faso, this percentile ranges between 21 and 33 mm day-1. The reference dataset show that EPEs occur in phase with the West African monsoon annual cycle, more frequently during the monsoon core season and during wet years. These results are consistent among the gridded datasets over Burkina Faso but also over the wider Sahel. The gridded datasets exhibit a wide diversity of skills when compared to the Burkinabe reference. The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre Full Data Daily version 1 (GPCC-FDDv1) and the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation gauge Reanalysis version 6.0 (GSMaP-gauge-RNL v6.0) are the only products that properly reproduce all of the EPE features examined in this work. The datasets using a combination of microwave and infrared measurements are prone to overestimate the EPE intensity, while infrared-only products generally underestimate it. Their calibrated versions perform than their uncalibrated (near-real-time) versions. This study finally emphasizes that the lack of rain-gauge data availability over the whole Sahel strongly impedes our ability to gain insights in EPE properties.