Provision of lifesaving therapeutic supply (RUTF) for children aged 6-59 months with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in drought affected areas. The limited snowfall has led to limited accumulations of snow in uplands and mountain areas, which affected water availability and caused drought in 20 provinces of Afghanistan. The impact of drought on the nutritional status of vulnerable groups especially children aged under-five is highly linked to reduced access to safe water, health concerns and increased likelihood of food insecurity. The potential consequences of severe food insecurity and limited water availability will affect the most vulnerable people across Afghanistan, particularly children aged under-five who may experience a deterioration in their nutritional status due to poor access to potable water and typical seasonal spikes in diarrheal diseases.
Hence, Afghanistan`s humanitarian response plan (HRP) 2018 identified the needs for provision of nutrition lifesaving services in drought affected areas. Therefore, UNICEF in close coordination with nutrition cluster and in-line with common humanitarian fund (CHF) strategy prioritized the needs for provision of lifesaving therapeutic supplies for 9,721 children aged under-five with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) as new cases affected by drought in 49 districts of 11 provinces of Faryab, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Helmand, Bamyan, Daykundi, Kandahar, Nimroz, Badghis, Ghor and Herat. Outpatient and inpatient treatment of SAM are the integral component of integrated management of acute malnutrition (IMAM) approach, so provision of both services will be delivered by BPHS, EPHS and CHF implementing partners simultaneously with the outpatient treatment of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), where applicable through CHF grant.  

Hence, UNICEF aims to address the need of lifesaving therapeutic supplies (F-75, F-100, ReSoMaL and anthropometric equipment) in 49 drought affected districts of 11 provinces using the existed stocks. However, UNICEF is seeking USD 874,414.73 from CHF grant for procurement of 9,721 cartons of ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF) to fill the gap of RUTF required for treatment of new cases affected by drought (9,721 children aged 6-59 months with SAM) in drought affected areas.

UNICEF will procure the RUTF through it is own mechanism. These supplies will be stored at national and regional UNICEF warehouses. Based on agreement between UNICEF and Public Nutrition Directorate (PND) of Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), PND is responsible to receive, review and forward the supply requests to UNICEF on quarterly basis. Afterwards, UNICEF review the requests and process the delivery of requested supplies for implementing partners (IPs) to the provincial level. The CHF project implementing partners (ACF, MEDAIR, WVI, BRAC/ AYSO, HEWAD/ AYSO, AADA, MOVE/ OCCD, ORCD, CHA, BARAN, BDN, SAF, HNI-TPO, SCI) will be fully responsible to make sure that RUTF are used in the outpatient and inpatient treatment of SAM sites and report to PND, nutrition cluster, UNICEF and OCHA as per agency requirement. The activities will be implemented through the fixed health facilities and mobile nutrition teams in the targeted districts. 

The overall objective of this intervention is to contribute to the reduction of morbidity and mortality amongst children aged under-five. UNICEF will closely coordinate with PND and CHF implementing partners for management of lifesaving therapeutic supplies including distribution and monitoring. This coordination includes the co- management of supply release through PND request with great involvement of all provincial nutrition officers at provincial level.