Emergency nutrition

Almost half of deaths in children under 5 are caused by undernutrition, and the risk of death is significantly greater in the context of humanitarian emergency.

FHI 360 works to prevent and treat malnutrition in all its forms, especially among children and pregnant and/or lactating women. Our emergency nutrition programs include three core elements:

• Facilitating maternal, infant and young child nutrition in emergencies (MIYCN-E).
• Improving emergency services for cases of severe acute malnutrition and moderate acute malnutrition.
• Supporting outreach for community-based management of acute malnutrition.

We work closely with communities, health facilities, mobile clinics, community health workers and other key service providers to ensure that infants, children and women are getting the nutrition they need.

Our programs work to protect, promote and support recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, focusing on establishing services at the community and health facility levels to reach the most vulnerable populations. We strengthen frontline workers’ skills to provide IYCF counseling and support services, and we facilitate peer support groups — where mothers and fathers can help each other improve breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in their families.

We also integrate MIYCN-E education, outreach and awareness-raising, delivering key messages on complementary feeding and exclusive breastfeeding and promoting vitamin A-rich foods, iron-rich foods and vegetables. In many of our programs, we distribute micronutrient supplements to children and pregnant women, monitor implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and donations of infant formulas, and identify and treat infants under 6 months with wasting to ensure they receive responsive services and care.

To improve access to care for children with wasting, we train health workers to screen and refer moderate and severe cases using evidence-based strategies, such the Family MUAC (that is, mother-led mid-upper arm circumference screening) and simplified approaches. We also establish and support stabilization centers for complicated cases of severe acute malnutrition, while children with uncomplicated cases receive treatment through FHI 360 or partner-supported outpatient therapeutic programs. Wherever possible, we support systems for identifying and enrolling children with moderate acute malnutrition into targeted supplementary feeding programs.

To ensure that our emergency nutrition programs are aligned with global and national protocols and guidelines, our programs support and promote the implementation of Operational Guidance for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (OG-IFE). We have also been leading the development of the very first IYCF-E Assessment Guide.

FHI 360 is an active member of the Global Nutrition Cluster, co-chairs the Infant Feeding in Emergency Core Group (IFE-Core Group) and serves in the Nutrition Information System Working Group.