PAST PROJECT
This project contributing in reducing malnutrition and associated morbidity and mortality among children under five, pregnant and lactating mothers that fall in project catchment area in districts Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan.

PROJECT BACKGROUND:

In the summer of 2010, Pakistan experienced devastating floods of a scale heretofore unseen. Like the rest of the country, Districts Dera Ismail Khan in the southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also suffered severe damage. Unprecedented flooding of the Indus River, as well as secondary and tertiary rivers, washed away bridges, roads, agricultural lands, livestock, businesses and homes. Having dealt with an influx of displaced people from South Waziristan due to military operations, local communities are already vulnerable and required immediate humanitarian assistance. The resulting deprivations and morbidity patterns have certainly further worsened the nutritional status of children as well as pregnant and lactating mothers.

IDRF and partner Prime Foundation worked together to reduce malnutrition and contributed in reducing associated morbidity and mortality among children under five, pregnant and lactating mothers that fall in project catchment area in districts Dera Ismail Khan. The Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) is an internationally accepted approach and involves the detection of acute malnutrition cases in the community and provision of treatment in the form of ready-to-use therapeutic foods or other nutrient-dense foods at home.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES:

• Provided adequate nutritional care and treatment for children less than five years of age and pregnant and lactating women suffering from acute malnutrition through community and facility based nutritional management approach.
• Prevented and treated micronutrient deficiency disorders in children and women through provision of multiple micronutrient supplementation, Vitamin A and de-worming campaigns.
  
• Prevented malnutrition in early childhood through promotion of improved infant and young child feeding, care giving, and care seeking practices at the facility, family and community level.
  
• Strengthened local technical capacity by providing training to the project staff on CMAM.

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES:

This project directly benefited 12,700 children and 8,064 women by providing them with nutritional screening and treatment services.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION:

The beneficiaries were took on board before actual implementation of the project in terms of services delivery. Community meetings will be held in the relevant UCs by the male and female community mobilizers to share the project objectives/activities, mobilize them for supporting the clients’ identification & assessment survey, health & nutrition education campaigns, default tracing and retrieval, etc. Parents, youth, women and school community in the area will be the specific target groups for various project activities and interventions.

Partner: Prime Foundation