Emergency Nutrition Response in the Afar Region The proposed project will provide emergency Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) support to four woredas in Afar region for a period of seven months. Concern will support the Ministry of Health (MOH) to strengthen existing Therapeutic Feeding Programme services by increasing coverage and quality. The intervention will address high levels of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) in the woredas and prevent cases of MAM from deteriorating to severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children under five and pregnant and lactating women. 
The overall objective of the project is to provide lifesaving emergency nutrition services in severely drought affected pastoralist communities. Concern will support the MOH to deliver high quality CMAM services including Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programs in four hotspot Priority One (P1) woredas - Yalo, Awura, Gulina and Telalak.

The project will provide technical and logistical support to the Woreda Health offices to ensure quality CMAM services are maintained and to minimize loss of life and suffering associated with acute malnutrition. Direct beneficiaries will be targeted based on their nutritional status. Concern outreach workers and community members will be mobilized to identify and refer malnourished children using MUAC tapes, sensitized on key infant and young child feeding (IYCF) messages to promote optimal practices and promote good hygiene. Concern will provide CMAM training for MOH staff and Health Extension Workers (HEWs) in line with National Guidelines. In addition, HEWs will receive IYCF-E training to promote optimal feeding practices. Concern will work closely with the existing Mobile Health and Nutrition Teams (MHNT). Concern will promote good hygiene and treatment of drinking water at household level and sites. Water treatment chemicals (WTC) and soap will be distributed to beneficiaries. Water for drinking and handwashing will be assured in sites through provision of handwashing facilities and WTCs.

Technical support to the MOH will be tailored to include: CMAM training for new/untrained MOH staff supporting MOH to provide on the job mentoring and regular joint supervision and assessment improving community mobilization for early case detection and referral and strengthening links to the Enhanced Outreach Strategy (EOS) and the PSNP. Community mobilization efforts will raise community awareness on target groups, admission criteria, where and when the services will be given, signs and symptoms of malnutrition, promotion of health seeking behavior, and referral to the CMAM services. 

Concern will support the existing OTP, SC and TSFP sites with additional  sites, possibly using mobile teams based on assessed need and population movement. Due to the pastoralist nature of the population, Concern will work with woreda and local leaders to ensure maximum coverage of sites based on the available budget. This will include the use of outreach to minimize distances needed to travel by beneficiaries and allow for shifting sites based on population movement. Population movement includes two types: one where families move to nearby locations with their children, and another where men move with livestock and women remain at home with their children.