Integrated Emergency Nutrition response in Aweil East and Paniyijar counties in former Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Unity States, South Sudan The IRC will implement the proposed six-month emergency response by strengthening the existing 37 static nutrition sites (35 OTPs and two Stabilization Centers), and deploying three mobile teams in hard-to-reach areas (two in Aweil East and one in Panyijar) to improve the nutrition response coverage though rapid response mechanism. Community Nutrition Volunteers (CNVs) will conduct regular active case findings, rapid assessments, and continue surveillance of the nutrition situation to ensure the targeted population has access to timely, appropriate care and treatment on a needs basis. The IRC-supported CNVs will also conduct community mobilization and mass screening, using Middle Upper Arms Circumference (MUAC) approach for early identification and referral of SAM and MAM cases among under-five children and pregnant and lactating women (PLWs). The IRC will also train 60 individuals, including IRC staff and County Health Departments (CHD) nutrition staff in CMAM and IYCF practices. The IRC will deploy additional nutrition workers to ensure timely and appropriate management of acute malnutrition service provided at all sites (five days a week). To improve the quality of services and ensure sustainability of the program, the IRC will provide refresher training for Nutrition staffs (including CHD) on CMAM and IYCF.
 
Recognizing the low service coverage as a result accessibility challenges and other multiple factors, three mobile teams (rapid response mechanism focused) will be established to provide services in the identified hard to reach areas. Beside provision of acute malnutrition treatments and care, the mobile teams will provide gender-sensitive IYCF counselling sessions for mothers and fathers, with a focus on breastfeeding nutritious complementary foods for infants and young children care and feeding of malnourished children and information on safe storage and treatment of water, proper hand washing, and sanitation. 
 
Using Mother to Mother Support Group (MtMSG) Father to Father Support Groups (FtFSG) for IYCF promotion, the IRC will focus on distributing key nutrition messages at the community level. To ensure that the nutrition services are provided in accordance with national and international standards, the IRC will print guidelines, reference tables, and look up tables with key health and nutrition messages, while also providing regular supportive supervision. The IRC will rely on UNICEF and WFP to provide nutrition supplies for treatment of SAM and MAM beneficiaries however, the IRC will ensure all nutrition supplies are timely requested, received, and prepositioned to the nutrition sites.
 
This project will focus on most vulnerable groups of the population in Aweil East, especially U5s and PLWs. All children with MUAC lt11.5 cm or WFH z-score lt-3 or edema will be classified as suffering from SAM. Those SAM cases with no medical complication will be admitted to OTPs and provided with appropriate treatment according to the national CMAM guidelines. Under-five children suffering from SAM with medical complications or failed appetite will be referred to SC and provided with inpatient treatment, in accordance with SC guideline. Children with MUAC gt= 11.5cm-lt12.5 cm or WFH-score gt=-3-lt-2 will be classified as suffering from MAM and enrolled to Target Supplementary Feeding Program (TSFP). Similarly, all PLWs with MUAC of lt23cm will be classified as suffering from MAM and will be linked to TSFP to receive supplementary feeding. To enhance and promote the optimal practice of IYCF, the IRC will target primary caretakers (women and men) of children aged 0-24 months with IYCF key messages through MtMSG/ FtFSG approaches, health education, and one-on-one counselling.