Past support to Nigeria
Requester:
International Medical Corps (IMC Nigeria)
Background:
Borno State was a scene of violent conflict few years, which caused an unprecedented movement of population. The conflict left a significant number of people with limited access to any form of humanitarian assistance including nutrition. This resulted in “Extremely Critical” high rates of acute malnutrition which prompted the government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Health to declare a nutrition emergency in Borno state. The State nutrition response sector includes Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) with both facilities-based and outreach Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Programs (OTPs,) few inpatient care facilities are extremely capacities is stretched and limited Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programs (BSFP).
The request:
Tech RRT CMAM advisor was requested to Support the Borno State Department of Health, NGOs, and UN partners to strengthen and scale up the emergency nutrition response through CMAM technical capacity building, response coordination and monitoring and evaluation of the program quality.
Key achievement:
- Supported the State Public Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) in response coordination including the establishment of the CMAM technical working group, development of the first “4W” CMAM mapping and gap analysis and organization of joint monitoring and supervision activities.
- Conducted a 6-day CMAM/IYCF training for 39 health staff including 25 from the State department of health and 14 from NGOs (IMC, NRC & Mercy Corp).
- Supported the host agency International Medical Corps to strengthen their nutrition programming including on-the-job training in CMAM, mass MUAC screening and supported in establishing a Care Group model.
Resources:
Requester:
Save the Children
Background:
The protracted conflict in Northeast Nigeria increased population vulnerability to displacement, destruction & loss of livelihood, malnutrition, food insecurity, inadequate health services and poor sanitation since 2009. Since the advent of the conflict, 60% of pre-existing health centers have been damaged or destroyed in Borno, resulting in significantly reduced access to health and nutrition services. According to Nigeria's 2013 Demographic and Health Survey, the national rate of early initiation of breastfeeding (within 30 min according to Nigeria's recommendation) is 33% and the rates of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF was 17%, 13%, 15% and 17% respectively in 2003, 2008, 2011 and 2013) showing no improvement for the last decade. In 2016 the Infant and Young Child Feeding Technical Working Group (IYCF, TWG) developed the IYCF strategy and National Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) as well as 5 years operational plan to guide the implementation of IYCF programs.
The request:
The IYCF-E Technical Surge Adviser was requested to strengthen the delivery of the IYCF-E response through the provision of senior leadership, technical support and capacity building during both in-country and remote support to Emergency Nutrition Sector Group and non-governmental organisations implementing IYCF-E in Borno State, Nigeria.
You can find out more about IYCF-E on our website or submit any questions or technical queries you may have through our request page.
Key achievements:
- Conducted IYCF-E training targeting government and partners on the importance of IYCF-E was not on anyone’s radar before the deployment and has been put on the agenda, government and partners have been made aware of the importance of IYCF-E through trainings and through a presentation at the nutrition sector meeting in Abuja
- Rapid assessment tools for IYCF-E have been developed/adapted to the context and are ready to be used by the government and partners.
- A list of key indicators has been developed.
- IYCF-E training as part of CMAM training was completed for 43 participants (23 male and 20 female) in Borno. The majority of participants were government and IMC CMAM staff.
- IYCF-E training was conducted for 26 partners (including UNICEF, Save the Children, IMC, NRC, and ACF) and government (including State Nutrition Officer and NAFDAC) nutrition staff (8 male and 18 female) in Borno.
- Supported the set-up of an IYCF-E TWG in Borno
- Developed a reporting mechanism for BMS Code Violations in collaboration with NAFDAC (national responsible authority).
- Developed IYCF-E Action Plan for Borno State.
Resources:
Requester:
Nigeria Coordination Centre (NCC)
Background:
According to Nigeria's 2013 Demographic and Health Survey, the national rate of early initiation of breastfeeding (within 30 min according to Nigeria's recommendation)was 33% and the rates of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF was 17%, 13%, 15% and 17% respectively in 2003, 2008, 2011 and 2013) showing no improvement for the last decade. Apart from the non-optimal breastfeeding practices, complementary feeding is also of concern in Nigeria. The percentage of children aged 6 to 23 months who consumed the minimum dietary diversity was 37% and this percentage drops to 15.8 % for the age group 6-11 months. Accessibility to a minimum acceptable diet has been identified as one of the bottlenecks to adequate complementary feeding with only 17.5% and 12.5 % of children 6-23 and 6-11 months respectively having access to a minimum dietary diversity and a minimum meal frequency. Infant and Young Child Feeding Technical Working Group (IYCF, TWG) developed IYCF strategy and National Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) as well as 5 years operational plan to guide the implementation of IYCF programs.
The request:
The IYCF-E Technical Surge Adviser was requested to strengthen the delivery of the IYCF-E response through the provision of senior leadership, technical support and capacity building during both in-country and remote support to Emergency Nutrition Sector Group and non-governmental organizations implementing IYCF-E in Borno State, Nigeria.
Key achievements:
- Developed a desk review (report) of existent national and agency strategies, policies and legislation on IYCF and IYCF-E.
- Developed a top line summary of country and state level capacity to respond to emergencies.
- Developed a set of rapid assessment tools and key indicators.
- Developed a workshop / Training Report.
- Developed a brief recommendation on BMS Management.
- Developed an IYCF-E Response Plan for Borno State.
- Developed a framework for action: capacity-building activities for response to acute/rapid onset emergencies, protracted emergencies and acute emergency ‘spikes’ within protracted emergencies.
Resources:
Child Protection and IYCF-E framework
IYCF-E Terms of Reference for Borno Nigeria Technical Working Group
Wash and Nutrition Workshop Report
IYCF-E Technical Working Group Action Plan
Draft Protocol for Management of Non-breastfed infants 0-6 Months
Requester:
Nigeria Coordination Centre (NCC)/ UNICEF
Background:
Borno State has been a scene of violent conflict which caused an unprecedented movement of populations. The conflict has left a significant number of people with limited access to food. The onset of the lean season has impacted the situation negatively leading to a large increase of people in need of immediate food assistance. This has resulted in high rates of global acute malnutrition which prompted the Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Health to declare a nutrition emergency in Borno state. Critical levels of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) had also been reported in some camps like Muna Garage and newly liberated areas. The host communities within Maiduguri have also reported high Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates up to above 6.4% based on a surveillance survey (February- March 2017). As of March 2017, the Cadre Harmonise estimates that 3.9 million people in Borno State are in severity levels 3-5 (Acute food crisis to Famine), with 38,000 of these in level 5 (famine/human catastrophe).
The request:
The Nigeria Coordination Centre in partnership with UNICEF requested CMAM advisor to provide technical support, training, strategic advice, and operational support for the implementation of inpatient management of SAM with medical complications.
Key achievements:
- conducted Capacity Assessments in seven stabilization centers. A capacity assessment report and capacity building plan were developed and shared with partners.
- Twenty-two partners were trained in Borno and Yobe states on conducting on-the-job-coaching in Stabilization centers.
- A scale-up plan and framework for stabilization centers were developed and shared.
- Recommendations on how to improve the referral system were made and shared.
Post-deployment webinars:
A post-deployment webinar took place on 28th September 2017. The recording can be found here.
Requester:
Nigeria Coordination Centre
Background:
The Boko Haram insurgency caused mass population displacement throughout Northeast Nigeria since 2012 when the government declared a state of emergency secondary to the conflict. According to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), there are 2,026,602 internal displaced persons (IDPs) spread across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. The impact on freedom of movement, livelihoods, markets, and humanitarian access has resulted in a severe food security and nutrition emergency in Northeast Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Northern Cameroon. A series of repeated surveys were organized with the primary objective of providing representative estimates for the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children (by both weight-for-height and MUAC), as well as mortality. Data from these surveys suggest that GAM trends were fluctuating based on seasonal variations as well as due to the volatility of the conflict. The humanitarian crisis in North-East Nigeria was protracted with threats of attacks by non-state armed groups and restrictions in movements continue to have negative impacts on trade, livelihoods and markets, leaving a substantial proportion of the civilian population relying on humanitarian assistance.
The request:
The Tech RRT Assessment Adviser was requested in Nigeria to build the capacity of response stakeholders in the design, implementation, analysis and reporting of nutrition assessments with special emphasis on the validation process of any type of assessment that will be conducted by partners.
Key achievements:
- An updated IMTWG ToR was shared and agreed upon with Nutrition Sector members.
- A set of rationalised assessment and data collection tools specific to Northeast Nigeria with a protocol explaining the purpose of each and how they should be used.
- Members of the IMTWG trained on the implementation of the standard assessment and survey protocol.
- A process protocol for the validation of assessments and surveys
- Members of the IMTWG trained on the assessment and survey protocols and the validation process protocol.
- Report on the assessment and survey capacity and gaps of IMTWG members and recommendations on further capacity-building exercises. This should also include identified assessment needs that require remote or additional support.
- End of mission report with overall recommendations on strengthening the IMTWG functions.
Resources:
TOR for Nutrition in Emergency Nigeria Information Management Technical Working Group.
Recommendations to strengthen NE Nigeria Information Management Technical Working Group
Requester:
Nigeria Coordination Centre (NCC)
Background:
The escalation of political insurgency in Borno caused mass population displacement which left a significant number of people in a critical food crisis. According to October cadre Harmonisé 2020 (CH) analysis projects that up to 5.1 million people risks being critically food insecure during the lean season. Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in Northeast Nigeria was at 10.7% in Borno, 7.5 % in Adamawa and 13.6 % in Yobe. The survey results indicate about 300,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) requiring urgent treatment and over half a million children were moderately malnourished. In addition to food insecurity, the WASH situation was worse and public interventions that prevent malnutrition such as deworming, and micronutrient supplementation were below 50% and 10% respectively. The survey also showed that fewer than 1 % of children 6-23 months old received the minimum acceptable diet and exclusive breastfeeding less than 50%.
The request:
UNICEF requested IYCF-E technical advisor to support the implementation of IYCF-E intervention in Northeast Nigeria.
Deliverables:
- Developed Infant Young Child Feeding in Emergency (IYCF-E) inception report
- Developed Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Emergency (MIYCN-E) operation guidance for Bay State, Nigeria
- Conducted a 2-hour orientation on the draft MIYCN-E operational guidance to 47 nutrition sector partners.