Nicaragua

Requester: 

UNICEF 

Background. 

Nicaragua was hit by two major hurricanes, Eta and Iota, in November 2020, with devastating effects in already vulnerable remote communities.  This major disaster left 1.8 million people affected including 160,000 displaced.  The most vulnerable were nutritionally at-risk groups as such due to earthquakes the nutrition situation of the majority of the population affected declined. However, nutrition was not a priority in the UN agencies in Nicaragua and even the government did not prioritize nutrition.  Ministry of Health and organizations had limited capacity to treat and prevent malnutrition. The lack of nutrition interventions in the emergency response would have meant more malnourished people leading to death. 

The request  

Given the limited capacity of government and partners to implement nutrition intervention in an emergency, UNICEF requested Technical Support from the GNC Technical Alliance. The CMAM adviser would work with local UNICEF implementing partners to implement nutrition interventions. 

Key Achievements: 

• Supported onsite mapping by implementing partners for initial diagnostic. 

• Conducted capacity assessment and online training. 

• Developed Terms of reference for CMAM Technical Working Group. 

• Developed operational guideline for CMAM Community Health Workers  

• Developed training guideline for CMAM community Health Workers. 

Mapping of existing capacity for management of Acute Malnutrition 

Training report

Intergrating acute malnutrition into PROCOSAM

Simplified protocol for management of acute malnutrition without medical complications

Outpatient guidance for community health workers on CMAM

Guidelines for OTP  management 

Requester: 

UNICEF 

Background. 

Due to two major earthquakes in Nicaragua, 60% of the territories were and 84,000 were left without access to water.  The nutritional census conducted by the Ministry of Health in Nicaragua in 2020, indicated that 10% of chronic malnutrition was found in children under 5 years of age; within this group, children aged 12 to 23 months are the most affected, presenting 14.6% of chronic malnutrition. In addition, exclusive breastfeeding coverage was 46% and continued breastfeeding was 52%, which puts at risk of malnutrition and death those who do not receive breastfeeding, that is, approximately more than half of the infants. Determinants of poor breastmilk were attributed to a lack of knowledge of the protection, promotion, and support of good infant and young child feeding practices in emergencies or indiscriminate donation of breast milk substitutes. 

The request   

Due to these circumstances, UNICEF Nicaragua requested the support of the Global Nutrition Cluster Technical Alliance through a consultant in IYCF-E to support UNICEF implementing partners in the planning and development of Infant and Young Child Feeding activities in emergency situations.  

Key Achievements: 

• Conducted meetings with the IYCF-E Technical Working groups. 

• Conducted training of IYCF-E to the IYCF-E Technical working group targeting partners and government.