Treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in children under five and pregnant  lactating women (PLW) in the prioritized provinces Afghanistan is currently facing one of the most complex and protracted humanitarian emergencies in the world, with increasing food insecurity and high malnutrition rates. As the latest IPC analysis shows (19.7 million people in IPC Phase 3+, representing half the country’s population, between March-May 2022), the unprecedented scale-up of WFP’s assistance has proved effective in preventing the already dire food security and nutrition situation from reaching catastrophic levels. Among these are about 6.6 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 13 million in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). For the first time since the introduction of IPC in Afghanistan, Catastrophe conditions (IPC Phase 5) were detected for 20,000 people in the province of Ghor, and immediate action is needed to prevent a further deterioration. The Nutrition Cluster has prioritised all 34 provinces for the nutrition response due to the high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition across the country. The nutritional status of children under five and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) continues to be alarming in most parts of Afghanistan. An estimated 3.9 million people will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2022, including more than a million children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), over 2,800,000 children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), and over 800,000 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) with acute malnutrition (an increase of 21 percent from 2021). The deterioration of the nutrition situation across most parts of the country is being driven by a series of complex and multi-faceted factors – including poor access to health services, acute household food insecurity, sub-optimal childcare and feeding practices, poor access to water and sanitation, as well as conflict and climate-related shocks. Despite the significant increase in the absolute number of children who received treatment for acute malnutrition over the past year, largely due to the increased number of service delivery points, a large proportion of children remain without access to nutrition services. Half of the districts in Afghanistan achieved below 50 percent of treatment coverage. Substantial expansion of the nutrition response capacity is required to fill the gap, to further meet the expanded needs, save lives, and preserve the development potential of children.

With an allocation of USD 9.7  million from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund, WFP will provide MAM treatment services through targeted supplementary feeding to 108,950 children under five and 36,223 PLW to rehabilitate their nutritional status, and provide blanket supplementary feeding services to 157,978 children and 78,989 PLW prevent them from further deterioration to severe malnutrition in prioritized provinces of Badakhstan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Ghor-Lal, Daikundi, Khost, Parwan, Jawzjan, Faryab, Samangan, Kandahar, Hilmand, Niroz, Hirat, and Ghor (with a total of 115,212 PLWs and 266,928 children under five). With a view to provide immediate relief and prevent pipeline shortfalls for food commodities with long procurement lead times, WFP will use existing commodities from additional funding sources and AHF’s contribution will serve for pipeline replenishment purposes. Through this AHF contribution, WFP will procure 680 MT LNS-MQ and 1,066 MT of Super Cereal. 

AHF's will complement WFP’s commitment to supporting the people of Afghanistan in the provision of quality lifesaving nutrition services to children under five years old and PLW for the treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition. 

As stated in the workplan WFP will be responsible for activities 1-3 activity 4 both WFP and its implementing partners will be responsible activities 5-8 will be the responsibility of the implementing partners and activities 9-12 will be carried out by WFP and its implementing pa