Bordering the Atlantic coast, Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, Rivercess, and Sinoe Counties are among the five counties of Liberia with the highest burden of stunting in the country. Continued challenges in food security, water, hygiene and sanitation, as well as gender undermine child and maternal nutrition across the eight livelihood zones of these five counties.

During the Link NCA quantitative survey, the prevalence of global chronic malnutrition (GCM) was estimated at 33.8% in Grand Cape Mount county, 34.1% in Grand Bassa and Rural Montserrado counties and 36.4% in Rivercess and Sinoe counties. All five counties thus bear “very high” burdens of stunting according to the 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds.

The analyses undertaken during this Link NCA study allowed to identify 19 risk factors, believed to have an impact on the incidence of undernutrition in the study zone. Following a triangulation of data from diverse sources, three (3) risk factors were identified as having a major impact, namely:

Low access to water,

Non-optimal sanitation practices and

Low access to food.