National Nutrition Policy 2018 - 2025

OBJECTIVE

The Overall objective of the 2007-2011 National Population Policy is to improve the quality of life by raising the standard of living of the Gambian people by ensure that population issues are systematically integrated into all aspects of development planning and programming at all levels.

The Specific Objectives of the Policy are:

• To enhance integrated rural and urban development in order to improve rural living conditions and curb rural-urban migration;
• To create the enabling policy environment for the promotion of economic growth and the reduction of poverty;
• To enhance the productive capacity and social protection of the poor and vulnerable;
• To protect and promote the rights and welfare of children in accordance with their best interests;
• To improve access to quality health care, education, housing, employment and food security for families;
• To ensure accessible and affordable quality family planning information and services for all couples and individuals;
• To provide adequate IEC/BCC to the youths on population issues, particularly on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights;
• To provide the population with necessary information and education on the value of a smaller family size and child spacing;
• To prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the incidence of high-risk pregnancies, illegal abortion, baby dumping or abandonment;
• To strengthen referral systems with particular attention to the development of major health centres to facilitate the provision of essential and comprehensive emergency obstetric care (EOC). To reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS and substance abuse among adolescent/youths between 10-24 years countrywide and the prevalence of addictive drugs;
• To disseminate the contents of the population policy countrywide;
• To enhance awareness through advocacy among politicians, policy makers, community and religious leaders, civil servants and the citizens at large of the various dimensions of the population problem and their impact on socio-economic development;
• To develop programmes aimed at mainstreaming gender and promoting women’s equal access to, and control over, productive resources;
• To foster and maintain a balanced spatial distribution of the population between rural and urban areas, and to monitor international migration;
• To review the nature and impact of all forms of international migration on sustainable development in order to formulate and implement an appropriate migration policy; 
• To strengthen national capacities in data collection, analysis, dissemination and utilisation for policy making and development planning;
• To strengthen national preparedness and response to disaster;
• To strengthen measures to prevent the unsustainable forms of forest exploitation;
• To strengthen and enforce environmental legislations and regulations; and
• To ensure that environmental impact assessment is adequately integrated into all aspects of development planning activities at all levels.