- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ghor is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-west part of the country. It is divided into ten districts and has a population of about 738,2241. The city of Chaghcharan is the capital of Ghor province. The survey design was a cross-sectional population-representative survey following the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) methodology. The survey applied two-stage cluster sampling using the SMART methodology based on probability proportional to size (PPS) for cluster selection. Stage one sampling involved the sampling of the Villages/clusters to be included in the survey while the second stage sampling involved the random selection of the households within the sampled clusters. The smallest geographical unit in Ghor defined as a cluster is a village. A total of 774 children aged 0-59 months were assessed, among them, 704 were 6-59 months old. The data collection took place from 25th November to 07th December 2020, during the winter season in Afghanistan. Out of 507 households planned, 469 were successfully assessed.
The survey results indicated a Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate for children 6-59 months old based on WHZ is 10.4% (7.8-13.8 95% CI). The results also indicated a very high level of chronic malnutrition of 45.5% (41.5-49.5 95% CI) exceeding the 30% critical threshold2. The result for malnourished pregnant & lactating women based on MUAC (<230 mm) was at 36.0%. The final report presents the analysis and interpretation of the nutritional status of children under five, the nutritional status of women 15-49 years old, pregnant, and lactating women (PLW), infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, measles immunization coverage, morbidity in the last 14 days, and retrospective mortality rates. The summary of the key findings is presented in table 1 below.