Cox’s Bazar

Nutrition Sector partners will continue providing life-saving essential nutrition services, both curative and preventive, for the target popu r through the 45 rationalized integrated nutrition facilities in the camps. Nutrition services will also be provided through other Sectors’ service centres, such as primary health care centres, hospitals, disability rehabilitation centres, and learning facilities, and through the Mother, Infant, and Young Child Feeding programme approaches. Nutrition Sector partners will continuously monitor the malnutrition status of the targeted population. Children under five with identified nutrition needs will be screened, referred, verified, and admitted to the respective nutrition programme. Children with disabilities will be referred to a disability rehabilitation program to receive stimulation therapy and to be treated jointly with nutrition, protection and disability services. The Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme will provide preventive nutrition services to over 145,000 children under five and 42,000 PLW. The Sector will also advocate for and support other nutrition services that require inter-sectoral collaboration, including food vouchers in the selected pilot camps, and nutrition promotion and learning programmes in learning centres. The Nutrition Sector partners will expand cross-cutting programmes
successfully tested in previous years, including the inclusive Early Childhood Care and Development programme for children 3-5 years, and the gender- and cultural-sensitive MHPSS programme for mothers and caregivers of children under five and PLWs. Over 3,000 PLWs with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) will be screened for anaemia during the Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programmes referrals. Severe and moderate anaemia cases will be referred to the Health’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Antenatal or Postnatal Centres nearby the nutrition facilities. The anaemia prevention programme will reach over 76,500 adolescents and 31,500 PLWs with Iron and Folic Acid supplementation. The Vitamin A supplementation campaign will reach 145,000 children aged 6-59 months
and deworm 92,500 children aged 24-59 months at least twice per year.

PRIORITIZED SECTOR OBJECTIVES
1. Ensure that all boys and girls under five, adolescent girls, and pregnant and lactating women (PLW)
have access to life-saving, gender-responsive, and inclusive curative essential nutrition services in the
camps and host communities. (SO2, SO3, SO4)
2. Ensure that all boys and girls under five, adolescent girls, and PLW benefit from preventive nutrition
programmes and are assisted to be able to follow the recommended maternal, infant, and child
feeding practices in the camps and host communities through a multi-sectoral approach. (SO2, SO3)
3. Provide regular and emergency nutrition services that are inclusive and evidence-based. (SO2, SO3,
SO5)

In 2022 the sector faced the COVID-19 restrictions in the camps. It included cutting the number of staff working in the integrated nutrition facilities and the necessity to integrated BSFP (Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme) with the General Food Distribution. Besides that discontinuation of the recommended child anthropometry for diagnosis of malnutrition and shifting the programme to only MUAC measurements also increased the volume of false-positive and false-negative wasting admissions. 

The COVID-19 lockdown and messages limited the number of MAM PLW received the TSFP services. One of the main reasons is controversial messages from the health SRH's ANC (Sexual and Reproductive Health, AnteNatalCare). The reasons were learnt and the nutrition sector will improve the communication for social mobilisation and engaging more MAM PLW to use the nutrition services in the camps.