Nearly 1.9 million children under the age of five and over 346,000 pregnant and lactating women will likely suffer from acute malnutrition over the course of 2021. These include over 400,000 children that are severely malnourished and require urgent action. This situation is a result of a combination of factors, mainly, the poor quality of food intake due to bad Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, the high prevalence of child morbidities, poor sanitation, low coverage of access to drinking water, as well as the volatile security situation in northern Chad and inter-communal conflicts in other parts of the country.

Between October and December 2020, which coincides with the period of imdecreased malnutrition, four provinces and 22 departments were in a Serious (IPC Phase 3) to Critical (IPC Phase 4) nutritional situation. Between January and May 2021, the situation is expected to either remain the same or slightly deteriorate, with eight departments in a Serious situation moving to a Critical one and another eight departments remaining in a Critical situation. From June to September 2021, if adequate measures are not taken, a significant deterioration in the nutritional situation will likely be observed, leading to a change of phase for two provinces and 16 departments from Serious to Critical and two provinces and 13 departments from Alert (IPC Phase 2) to Serious.

Acute Malnutrition Population Table October 2020 - September 2021

• Guarantee treatment for all children suffering from acute malnutrition. This must be the first priority to reduce the mortality rate of children under five.
• Capitalise on the achievements in the implementation of emergency responses (minimum package system) and early prevention that have limited the deterioration of the nutritional situation.
• Encourage initiatives in favour of Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture (SANAD); and increase the rate of access to drinking water and sanitation services.
• Strengthen the implementation of community activities to promote good infant and young child feeding practices.
• Intensify and better coordinate efforts to mobilise resources in order to rapidly and effectively increase the coverage of actions for the prevention and management of acute malnutrition while exploring their extension to the community level.
• Cases of measles, diarrhoea, malaria and acute respiratory infections; coverage of preventive and curative care (acute malnutrition, measles, malaria and ARIs); evolution of the security situation; household food security and in particular the effects related to COVID-19.