“Now my daughter is healthier, and her arm measurements have improved, thanks to the micronutrient powder I received. I feel relieved knowing I’m doing the right thing for her nutrition.”
– A farmer and mother of four in Magway.
Key figures
Severity of needs
PiN and target
Needs
In 2025 it is projected that 2 million children below five years of age and 1 million pregnant and lactating women (PLW) will need nutritional support. Among these, close to 94,000 children are at risk of dying from preventable causes if they do not receive life-saving therapeutic feeding for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). More than 446,000 children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) will be at increased risk of dying if targeted supplementary feeding programmes are not delivered. The immediate drivers of humanitarian needs in nutrition are inadequate diets and poor care practices, worsened by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, and a dysfunctional health delivery system. This is exacerbated by factors ranging from food insecurity, conflict and displacement. As was the case in 2024, the highest needs are in the Northwest, followed by Rakhine, the Southeast, Northeast, and Central regions. Access and transportation are the major constraints for essential service delivery to the vulnerable communities.
Response
The Nutrition Cluster is targeting over 643,000 people in severity level 3 or worse for nutritional support in 2025. Life-saving treatment of children below five years will target over 33,000 children. Additionally, over 99,000 and nearly 52,000 moderately malnourished children below five years and PLW will be targeted respectively. More than 423,000 children will receive micronutrient powder (MNP) supplementation and over 171,000 children will be reached with blanket supplementary feeding programmes. Close to 166,000 children will receive vitamin A supplementation. Over 200,000 PLW will be supported through micronutrient supplementation, more than 220,000 primary caregivers of children through infant and young child feeding in emergencies counselling, and over 80,000 PLW through blanket supplementary feeding programmes. The Cluster will expand response modalities through cash and voucher assistance for families of over 102,000 children affected by acute malnutrition and PLW. A combination of existing health service facilities, temporary health service delivery platforms, and faith-based mobile clinic centres will be the bedrock of service provision platforms for displaced persons and communities. Screening and referral of children and women will be undertaken in the community and treatment of SAM/MAM without complications will be done using the national guidelines at designated community-based centres.
The Cluster is expanding access to hard-to-reach areas through a mix of community-led access modalities, principled negotiations to inaccessible areas and border-based assistance depending on developments with neighbouring countries. Safe spaces for breastfeeding as well as infant and young child feeding messaging for caregivers will be used to integrate other programmes, e.g. explosive ordnance risk education through multiple interventions targeting the same people and geographic location while strengthening intersectoral collaboration. The Nutrition and WASH clusters will work closely with the AWD Technical Working Group through orientation sessions on AWD prevention delivered at infant and young child feeding in emergencies messaging platforms. A dashboard will be used to track progress on localization efforts in the nutrition response.
Monitoring
The response will be monitored through the monthly nutrition information system based on a 3W, as well as Activity Info, contingent upon internet access. The submitted data is cleaned, validated, analysed and integrated into dashboards that are shared through partners’ email and placed on the MIMU Nutrition Dashboard. The Assessment and Information Management Technical Working Group will review these reports on a quarterly basis and partners will be supported through the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition/ Infant and Young Child Feeding Technical Working Group. Based on the collection of bi-annual 4W data, infographics and maps will be produced about partners’ presence, gaps, and other response elements to better understand the situation and advocate for increased support. Regular capacity building on data collection tools is conducted for monitoring and evaluation focal points of partners.
Nutrition Cluster Strategy for Myanmar:
https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/myanmar-nutrition-cluster-strategic-plan-2022-2025
Nutrition Cluster at a glance:
https://reliefweb.int/node/4117974