February 2022 – Prior to the onset of COVID-19, humanitarian needs, including those related to food security and nutrition, had already reached unprecedented levels. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation by disrupting food production, supply, and distribution; destabilizing food prices; and reducing country and consumer purchasing power, exacerbating undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. UNICEF reported in January 2021 a 30% overall reduction in 2020 in the coverage of essential nutrition services, including school feeding, micronutrient supplementation and nutrition promotion programmes in Low-to-Middle-Income Countries. It is estimated that in 2022, COVID-19 could result in an additional 2.6 million stunted (under-height) children, 9.8 million wasted (under-weight) children, 168,000 additional child-deaths, and 2.1 million maternal anemia cases globally. With GAC’s support, Save the Children is providing a multi-sectoral response to acute malnutrition needs in the DRC, Ethiopia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Project activities include: (1) providing community outreach and clinical activities aimed at the prevention, identification, and treatment of acute malnutrition; as well as complementary (2) providing water, sanitation, and hygiene support; and (3) providing protection services to lessen the impact of the nutrition crises in the beneficiary communities by addressing underlying vulnerability factors that have exacerbated them.
