Humanitarian Action for Children 2021
In the COVID-19 context, UNICEF championed the family mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) initiative to
improve SAM case-finding and referral. The initiative empowered mothers and caregivers of under-fives to
assess the nutritional status of their children through distribution of MUAC tapes and training on identification
of early signs of malnutrition. This helped to mitigate the safety concerns associated with mass screening.
As well as challenges brought about by COVID-19 measures, widespread flooding especially in most parts of
Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile had an impact on nutrition programming. Insecurity due to sub-national conflicts
led to displacement of the population and access constraints in some locations. The challenges were largely
mitigated through dry season pre-positioning of supplies, conducting outreach nutrition services and
establishing new nutrition sites in locations affected by floods.
There are key lessons learned around the potential of platforms and mechanisms for integrated service
provision. Efforts made by the Government and UNICEF to deliver two rounds of vitamin A supplementation
and deworming to young children in 2021, positioned the campaign as an excellent platform to deliver
multisectoral promotional and preventative health, WASH and nutrition services to women and children, using
the same logistics. Nutrition sites where wasting treatment take place are also an excellent platform to deliver
integrated services - as evidenced by successful screening of children for malaria, distribution of 350,000 bed
nets, 745,000 bars of soap and 24 million tablets of Aquatab - and offers the possibility for linkages with safety
net programmes.
The integrated nutrition and food insecurity scale up in 2021, brought innovation in the merging of multiple
intersectoral community networks and volunteers to improve reach and build impact of joint work, to reduce the
risk of disease, increase access to services and save lives. This model of local integration, as well as enhanced
collaboration for preventative actions (e.g. WASH for malnutrition) has enabled greater impact and scale of
emergency programmes, increasing UNICEF's ability to reach more children, better, with less.
Table 2: Key indicators table for nutrition
Indicators
Cluster/sector
2021 Target
Cluster/sector
total results
UNICEF
2021 Target
UNICEF
Total
results
Number of targeted children 6-59
months with severe acute
241,108
(131,249
242,549
241,108
242,549
malnutrition (SAM) admitted to
therapeutic care
female)
% of exits from therapeutic care by
children 6-59 months who have
recovered
# of pregnant and lactating women
with access to infant and young
child feeding (IYCF) counselling for
appropriate feeding
> 75%
96%
> 75%
96%
1,138,303
2,144,873
1,138,303
2,144,873
Note: UNICEF, as cluster lead agency, is responsible for information management of cluster partner results and sharing
overall results achieved by cluster members collectively.
Health
In 2021, over 6 million people were at risk of disease outbreaks, including cholera 25. Malaria is endemic in South
Sudan and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for 52.6 per cent of all morbidities and
58.2 per cent of all mortalities in 202126. It is a significant risk to pregnant women and can cause malaria-related
anaemia in the mother, and contribute to low birth weight. Only 52.4 per cent of households have at least 1
LLIN27.
25 UNICEF, Humanitarian Action for Children 2021, 2021 Revision 1 (June 2021)
26 OCHA, South Sudan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2022, February 2022
27 Government of South Sudan, 2020 National Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) Household Survey
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