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Overview of Yemen Nutrition Situation and 2014 Response Plan
A comprehensive analysis of the recent nutrition survey findings across Yemen shows an estimated 1,060,000 girls and boys 6-59 months are acute malnourished in 2014. About 280,000 are severe acute malnourished. These children have heightened risk of death than healthy children. If left untreated acute malnutrition can have debilitating consequences such as impaired physical growth and cognitive development.
In addition to child undernutrition, maternal malnutrition is a major problem in Yemen. An estimated 760,000 pregnant and lactating women continue to suffer from under nutrition.
Critical and serious emergency level acute malnutrition among children under age of five is experienced in most parts of the country. However severity of acute malnutrition varies across governorates in the country with considerable proportion of Children 6-59 months in governorate in North and South West coastal areas suffering most. Children in 107 districts from Hodeida, Hajjah, Raymah, Lahj, Al Jawf, Taize, Abyan, Aden and Sa’ada, governorates are in critical emergency nutrition situation. Forty-six districts from Al Dhale, Amran, some parts of Jahj and Al Mahaweet governorates are categorized in serious nutritional emergency situation. The acute malnourished children in critical and serious regions represent about 70% of the total caseload in the country. It was also observed that densely populated districts in urban areas such as Sana’a and Mukalla have very high case load of acute malnourished children although the malnutrition levels are not either in critical or serious category.
The nutrition cluster targeted districts in critical and serious category as well as districts with very high case load (higher than the average caseload per district in critical areas) even though malnutrition levels are in ‘poor’ category. In 2014 emergency response cluster partners aims to cover roughly 70 % of the population in need with life-saving therapeutic nutrition interventions and about 30% with supplementary nutrition interventions. In addition vulnerable children 6-59 months, pregnant and lactating women in high priority districts are targeted for preventive interventions. The partners’ implementation capacity was taken into consideration while setting targets both for the life-saving and preventive interventions.
The nutrition response plan in 2014 has the following five objectives:
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Improve equitable access to quality lifesaving therapeutic and rehabilitative nutrition interventions for acute malnourished girls and boys under five and Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW)
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Improve institutional infrastructure, system, and national human resource capacity of MOPHP, and non-governmental organizations to ensure effective, efficient and coherent, decentralized nutrition response
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Prevent development of under nutrition among girls, boys under five and Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW) in priority governorates
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To ensure a predictable, coherent, timely, and effective nutrition response through establishing and maintaining partnership among nutrition actors in the country and timely flow of updated nutrition information
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Enhance national and international efforts to address long term nutrition concerns (such as chronic malnutrition).