Sudan

Requester:

Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) 

Background:  

The persistent food insecurity is a key driver of malnutrition among children under five years and women in Sudan. The compound factors are Poor nutrition is also exacerbated by conflict, displacement, poverty, poor WASH, limited access to health services, poor dietary diversity, disease outbreaks food culture, and feeding practices (IYCF). The Sudan National Simple, Special, Survey results showed that the rate of exclusive breastfeeding at six months was 61.5% reaching its lowest (20%) in Central Darfur. The national prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) is 14.1% and more than 66 localities in nine states of Sudan are above the threshold of 15 percent. The survey also indicated that over half a million children currently suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) at 4.39%. To eliminate the burden the Nutrition Sector approach was rolled out in 2018 to coordinate humanitarian nutrition response through the implementation of timely intervention such as the development of the IYCF strategy, the IYCF national guidelines and the incorporation of IYCF interventions in government development policies and plans. Partners were also activated to implement different IYCF projects and form IYCF technical working groups. 

The request: 

Technical support was requested to strengthen the delivery of IYCF such as the development of IYCF guidelines and integration of IYCF intervention into sector plans. 

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: 

• Developed draft IYCF action plans and incorporated emergency 
• Developed IYCF-E operation guidance through consultative meetings and field visits 
• Incorporated monitoring and evaluation tools and guideline in the IYCF- operational guideline 
• Developed BMS standard of operating procedures and BMS Monitoring and Evaluation tools. 
• Developed IYCF multisectoral guidance and conducted a 1-hour integration session  
• Developed a guidance note on the integration of IYCF-E with nurturing care    
• Developed IYCF-E guidance operational package 

Resources:

Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) Operational Guidance  

Requester:

Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) 

Background:  

Sudan has a long history of hosting refugees and asylum seekers, with over 1.1 million individuals estimated to be living in Sudan. This adds to many of the burdens that the country was facing like food insecurity, poor dietary diversity, limited access to health and poor WASH.  As such the country had high malnutrition indicators such as exclusive breastfeeding was very low at 61% complementary feeding at 24% and dietary diversity for children was 64%.   Other indicators like Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Global Acute Malnutrition were 15% and 3%respectively.  There had been efforts to improve nutrition through the development of Infant and Young Child Feeding Strategy, staff training, the establishment of the national code for marketing breastmilk and the establishment of mother support groups to provide counseling to mothers in need of nutrition assistance. Most support was coordinated by the r Sudan Nutrition Sector. 

The request 

While there were many partners supporting IYCF in Sudan, they required the capacity ding to strengthen IYCF-E response through the development of IYCF-E guidelines, BMS monitoring and integration of IYCF-E into sector policies.  As such the Nutrition Sector Coordination requested GNC Technical Support. 

Achievements 

• Developed M&E tools to monitor IYCF-E national guidance 

• Developed Standard of Operational Procedures for breastmilk substitutes, milk products, and bottles which were included in the IYCF-E guidance. 

• Developed IYCF guidance note for IYCF integration with nutrition care interventions 

• Developed IYCF-E Operational guidance and orientation package 

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