274. The GoSL has taken decisive steps at the highest level to bring a halt to early pregnancies. It has developed a multi-sectoral National Strategy for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy (2013-2015). It is a national coordinated strategy addressing social, economic, cultural and other driving factors through multi-sectoral interventions. It is implemented under the leadership of the President under the supervision of a Multisectoral Coordination Committee, the secretariat for which sits in the MoHS. At a sectoral level, each department will have a focal person responsible for implementation and reporting on sectoral responsibilities and outcomes. The strategy focuses on the review and strengthening of all sectoral policies and laws to better protect adolescents and active community level action to reduce early pregnancies through a combination of improved access to SRHR services, information, education and empowerment for girls. Its goal is, by 2015, to reduce the adolescent fertility rate from 122/1,000 to 110/1,000 and reduce the number of girls giving birth before the age of 19 years from 34 to 30. Nutritional support 275. The GoSL has long battled the scourge of malnutrition among its children which is estimated to contribute to 37 percent of all under-five mortality. It further contributes to poor physical and cognitive development of children and consequently impacts on attainment of national developmental goals. The GoSL has thus not only committed to realization of MDG goal 1: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. It has also committed, as an integral component of its national poverty reduction strategy to “accelerate the eradication of hunger and malnutrition, with a strengthened focus on women and children from conception to two years of age, to prevent the irreversible effects of stunting” (Government of Sierra Leone: Agenda for Prosperity, 2013). 276. The National Nutrition Policy and costed Implementation Plan 2013-2017 developed by the MoHS lays out the primary actions required to reduce under-nutrition with an emphasis on the reduction of chronic malnutrition (stunting). In October 2012, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) adopted and launched the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) initiative, with the aim of scaling up cost-effective, evidence based interventions that improve nutrition during the first 1,000 days between pregnancy and the child's second birthday. 277. The GoSL has developed and implemented, with the support of development partners, a comprehensive programme for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition. The programme comprises treatment of severe acute malnutrition at facility- and community-levels; prevention package comprised of growth monitoring, counselling for feeding and adoption of appropriate feeding behaviors: the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming and the promotion of household food production and income generation activities. 278. The MoHS, with the support of its development partners, is implementing a communitybased preventive nutrition package in 13 districts in Sierra Leone. Community support groups/mother support groups (MSGs) have been formed with at least 2 members trained in Infant and Young Child Feeding counseling and active group facilitation skills. These groups conduct Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) on breastfeeding and complementary feeding, provide counseling support to breastfeeding mothers, conduct 76  Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone Initial Report on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 2002-2014