South Sudan: RMF UNICEF Malnutrition Treatment and Prevention Program Jonglei State

Project Goals:
 
The overall goal of this project is to reduce the GAM (General Acute Malnutrition) rate to an acceptable level of less than 15% in each of the Payams assigned to RMF. This will be in line with standards set by South Sudan National Nutrition Program.

Project Objectives:

• To provide lifesaving nutrition services for acutely malnourished children (boys and girls) less than 5 years of age
• To prevent malnutrition in early childhood through promotion of improved infant and young child feeding, care giving and care seeking practices at the facility, community and family level.
• To prevent and treat micronutrient deficiency disorders in children through provision of multiple micronutrient supplementation, Vitamin A and deworming campaigns in the assigned areas.
• To strengthen the capacity of the County Health Department (CHD) and provide appropriate resources for the initiation and integration of nutrition services into existing Primary Health Care as well as linking nutrition interventions in the health system in the targeted counties.

Summary of RMF/WCF-sponsored activities carried out during the reporting period under each project objective:
 
Implemented activities in line with RMF sponsored activities and project objectives include:

• Created position for additional Nutrition Officers and recruited one Nutrition Officer to oversee the Stabilization Center in Gorwai.
• Procured all the necessary equipments and established a Stabilization Center in Gorwai, Pajiek Payam of Ayod County.

• Procured all the necessary equipment and established an OTP in Yian, Pajiek Payam of Ayod County, about one hour walk from the Stabilization Center and the OTP in Gorwai; this is to bring services closer to the people who need them.
• Chartered UNHAS operated helicopters which delivered equipment for establishment of a Stabilization Center in Gorwai and an OTP in Yian.
• Conducted training for nutrition nurses and community nutrition volunteers on CMAM and IYCF protocols and guidelines.
• Facilitated the formation of 8 mother-to-mother support groups; each group received adequate training on how to perform the tasks assigned to them, especially in promoting IYCF services.
• Procured and delivered basic items like soaps and mats to support the already formed mother-to-mother support groups as incentives to boost their performance.
• Conducted one week training on Psycho Trauma Support in Juba for RMF’s Nutrition Nurses. The training was conducted by a psychologist from the US with support from our in country team, In sum, a total of eight workshops were presented, with a total attendance of approximately 56 professionals comprised of teachers, nurses, midwives, and clinicians.

• Through the logistic cluster, we delivered adequate quantities of nutrition supplies to all our sites in Ayod and Boma.
• Continued to procure and deliver essential foodstuffs to all our TFP sites for our nutrition team.
• Procured and delivered essential items, such as gumboots and rain coats to enhance community outreach activities in all our areas of operation.
• Procured and delivered RMF T-shirts to all our sites in Ayod and Boma.
• Continued to support the satellite phone services through payment of monthly subscription fees as this is the only means of communication in those areas where routine phone services are not available.
• Continued support of high speed WIFI services at the RMF Juba office to enable smooth coordination.
• Continued facilitation of our team to participate in all coordination activities on national and state levels.
• Facilitated the coming of RMF founder and CEO Dr. Martina C. Fuchs to South Sudan who is continuously supporting the in country team.

Results and/or accomplishments achieved during this reporting period:

• One additional Stabilization Center established, making it a total of two, all providing services for the management of severely acute malnourished children with medical complications.
• One OTP established in Yian, making the number of RMF OTPs a total of 7 OTPs, all providing CMAM services for children under 5 and PLW.
• 6,229 children under 5 were screened for signs of malnutrition during this quarter; cumulatively 11,003 children have been screened since the initiation of the program.
• 599 severely acute malnourished children were referred to OTPs for management during the reporting quarter; cumulatively 1,614 SAM cases have been referred OTPs since the inception of the RMF nutrition programs in South Sudan.
• 61 severely acute malnourished children with medical complications referred for management in the two Stabilization Centers (SCs); a total of 88 SAM cases with medical complications managed at the 2 SCs since their establishment.
• 496 children received deworming tablets during the reporting quarter; cumulatively 1,431 children were dewormed since the initiation of the program.
• 496 children received vitamin A supplementation according to South Sudan guidelines during the reporting quarter; cumulatively 1,431 children received vitamin A since the initiation of the program.
• 85% of the admitted SAM cases fully recovered which is a good indicator as the proportion of recovered children is above the 75% recommended by the South Sudan MOH and the international protocols.
• 43 RMF Nutrition Staff received training on CMAM and IYCF protocols and guidelines, and are providing quality nutrition services based on Ministry of Health policies and protocols.
• 11 RMF Nutrition Staff received training on Psycho Trauma Support and are now integrating the services into our routine OTP/SC services, also continuously supporting the community nutrition volunteers on aspects of psycho trauma management. The training was conducted by a psychologist from the US with support from our in country team, In sum, a total of eight workshops were presented, with a total attendance of approximately 56 professionals comprised of teachers, nurses, midwives, and clinicians.
• Strengthened the nutrition technical team through the inclusion of the position of a Nutrition Officer to support the management of the Stabilization Center.
• Interviewed and recruited additional local staff from our areas of operation to support the trained CMAM Nurses taken from Juba.
• Our nutrition field based teams continued to have clean, safe drinking water through use of provided water purifying equipments.
• Our nutrition field based teams continued to charge their Thuraya phones by use of provided portable solar lighting systems.
• Continued provision of essential foodstuffs to all our TFP sites since all our areas of intervention are hard to reach and procuring basic foodstuffs there is not possible.
• RMF Juba coordination office continued to have a reliable source of power due to a solar system installed as backup, making day to day running of activities easier.
• The RMF Juba based staff, visiting Nutrition Staffs from the various field locations, and JTH staffs are benefiting from the high speed WIFI internet services installed at the RMF office.
• Monthly payment of Thuraya subscription fares to enable effective communication without interruptions.
• Continued replenishment of nutrition supplies in all our OTP and SC sites through chartered commercial and UNHAS operated aircrafts.
• Coordinated RMF nutrition activities with UNICEF, other UN agencies, the nutrition cluster and other nutrition partners, both at the national and state levels.
• Continued to follow up on our TSFP proposal for MAM and PLW with World Food Programme.
• The visiting of our RMF founder and CEO Dr. Martina C. Fuchs has added confidence among the South Sudan team.