Emergency Nutrition in the context COVID-19 preparedness and response among drought-affected and conflict displaced communities in Afar and Oromia regions. The project responds to the nutrition needs of drought-affected and displaced vulnerable communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will target Elidar and Buremudaitu (Gelalo) woredas in Afar for six months with full community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and COVID-19 response. In Oromia region, the project will be a continuation of the existing EHF interventions in Meda Welabu woreda (in Bale zone). Since the targeted woredas are prone to the security situation we will use one month for preparation and five-month for actual implementation. 

This project’s targeted woredas are categorized under hotspot priority one for the nutrition cluster, reporting the highest global acute malnutrition (GAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) rate in recent reports. In our current assessment, the report shows that the nutrition situation is further worsening. Moreover, the community in the targeted woredas are affected by multiple humanitarian threats such as flood, desert locust, conflict, and disease outbreak, further aggravating the food insecurity situation. Elidar Woreda will have a potential COVID-19 burden, due to its location on the main access road from Semera to Aseb and Gelalo will have a potential COVID-19 burden. Based on the needs in the ground, feedback from local government and recommendations from the Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU), a full CMAM intervention will be integrated with COVID-19 risk communication, and infection prevention and control interventions will be implemented to prevent morbidity and mortality among children under 5 and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in drought and flood-affected woredas of Afar and Oromia Regions. GOAL’s experience in other Africa countries supporting the Ebola response with a community-led action approach will be tapped to ensure community engagement and propagate messages to enhance community awareness and reduce the impacts of COVID-19.

Activities will be aligned with global and national programming guidance in the context of COVID-19
- Supporting the government-led treatment of SAM among children under 5 in the Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) and stabilization centers (SC).
- Strengthening/Establishment of OTP and SCs.
- Provision of targeted supplementary food (TSF) among 6-59 months and PLW with the World Food Programme (WFP).
- Establishment/ strengthening of Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) sites / per woreda considering access and Government support with the rollout of IMAM.
- On-the-job capacity building of health workers (HWs) and health extension workers (HEWs) on CMAM.
- Logistical and technical support to the Health Office on the implementation of CMAM, supply chain, health campaigns.
- Infant and young child feeding in emergencies (IYCF-E) education including COVID-19 risk communication, infection prevention, and hygiene promotion.
- Community mobilization and awareness creation about service delivery, active case finding, and all mitigation and prevention methods with emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Strengthen health facilities’ preparedness and response plan in terms of outbreak response and surveillance to combat pandemic COVID-19.
- Training of Government health workers, key community figures, and community volunteers on Community Lead Action (CLA) in the context of COVID-19.
- Provision of timely health information through different outlets (eg: IEC materials)
- Provide access to soap, handwashing facilities, cleaning supplies, and water for health facilities depending on the context.
- Protection, psychosocial, and mental health to support mainstreaming