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Nutrition Program

The humanitarian situation in South Sudan is worsening. People’s humanitarian needs continue to rise, driven by cumulative and compounding effects of years of conflict, sub-national violence, food insecurity, climate crisis and public health challenges. An estimated 9.4 million people in South Sudan, including 2.2 million women, 4.9 million children and 337,000 refugees, are projected to need humanitarian assistance and protection services in 2023 – reflecting a 76% of the country’s population and a 5% increase from 2022. South Sudan faces a chronic malnutrition crisis driven by many inter-related factors, including: rising food insecurity; high morbidity rates; limited access to safe water and sanitation; and declining availability of health services.

Two-thirds of South Sudan’s population is affected by the precarious food security situation, making the country one of the worst food insecurity emergencies in the world. An estimated 8 million people, or 64% of the population in South Sudan will experience severe food insecurity by the peak of the 2023 lean season between April and September. With elevated food insecurity, about 1.4 million children are expected to suffer from life-threatening acute malnutrition.

Many of the highly food-insecure people reside in locations with chronic vulnerabilities worsened by frequent climate-related shocks, the macro-economic crisis, conflict and insecurity and low agricultural production. Communicable diseases, including measles and malaria, maternal mortality and neonatal health continue to be the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in South Sudan. South Sudan ranks among the five countries in the world that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as evidenced by communities devastated, destroyed and displaced by large-scale flooding across the country.

 

Above-normal rainfall for the fourth consecutive year in 2022 led to erratic rainfall patterns and prolonged flooding, with water levels in some areas exceeding the unprecedented levels reached in 2021 and affecting areas that had not been flooded in 2021. As of 10 December 2022, more than 1 million people have been verified as affected by severe flooding in 39 counties across South Sudan. Humanitarian access to affected people remains a challenge in an already fragile context in South Sudan.

South Sudan continues to be the most violent and dangerous context for aid workers. Between January and December 2022, an estimated 450 humanitarian access incidents were reported, and nine humanitarian workers were killed in the line of duty. Physical access constraints, bureaucratic impediments, interference in recruitment and youth employment, illegal fees and taxations, conflict and inter-communal violence affect people’s access to services and the ability of humanitarian partners to reach vulnerable people with much-needed life-saving assistance. In response to these, CMD will focus on the following goal and strategies:

Strategic Goal

Contribute to “reduction of malnutrition rate among children under 5 years and PLWAs through targeted supplementary feeding program, blanket supplementary feeding program and stabilization centres”

Strategies

  1. Infant young children feeding programme: Promote exclusive breastfeeding from 0-6 month’s programmes through awareness creation by staff and community volunteers.

  2. Targeted supplementary feeding programme: Increase screening and provision of service to the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) for children from 6-59 months at CMD Clinics, Primary Health Care Centres - (PHCCs) and Primary Health Care Units (- PHCUs).

  3. Blanket supplementary feeding programmes: Increase screening and provision of feeds to PLW’s through feeding programme in CMD Primary Health Care Centres – (PHCCs), Primary Health Care Units (PHCUs).

  4. Out-patient therapeutically programme: Increase screening and provision of services to the young children from 6-59 months with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) without medical complication at the outpatient level at CMD clinics, Primary Health Care Centres – PHCCs and Primary Health Care Units - PHCUs

  5. In-patient management of malnourished children / stabilization centres: Support admission and provision of services to severe Acute Malnutrition with medical complication from 0-59 months at CMD Clinics, Primary Health Care Centres – PHCCs, Primary Health Care Units - PHCUs and other referrals.

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