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IPC Nutrition Pilots in Kenya and South Sudan

DATE
Dec 2014
REGION - COUNTRY
Eastern Africa

Two IPC Nutrition pilots have been conducted in Kenya (4-8 August) and South Sudan (25-29 August). Both pilots were co-ordinated by the IPC Global Support Unit (GSU), which worked closely with the in-country IPC Technical Working Groups (TWG). In Kenya, UNICEF facilitated the analysis together with the Ministry of Health and the Nutrition Information Working Group, while in South Sudan FAO and UNICEF facilitated the analysis together with the Nutrition Cluster and the Ministry of Health.

The Kenya pilot covered 5 counties and the related sub-counties while the South Sudan pilot focused on 3 states. Nutritionists working with different organizations and MOH staff participated in the two analyses. Both pilots were successfully carried out at the same time as IPC food security analyses and in the same locations. Selected areas were classified into different phases based on the prototype IPC Nutrition classification. During the process, factors that are likely to contribute to malnutrition in the areas analysed were identified. Furthermore, projections were made based on the current analysis and seasonality. The analysis process culminated in the production of IPC Nutrition maps and communication briefs.

Lessons Learned

Availability of data proved to be one of the major issues when conducting IPC nutrition analyses. In the absence of recent data, analysts are obliged to look at old data: it is necessary to define the age of the data that can be used in the analysis and how to assign reliability scores for old data. The IPC analysts involved in the pilot exercises also agreed that it is useful to have an evidence repository so that all available data and reports can be recorded there prior to the analysis. This would also help identify data gaps, if any.

The in-country IPC TWGs proved to be the appropriate forum to co-ordinate the IPC nutrition classification, but IPC TWG needs to work closely with the Nutrition Cluster and MOH to get the necessary technical support and personnel to carry out the analysis.

Although it is useful to organise the nutrition and food security analyses together, it might be explored the opportunity to carry out each exercise separately. Nevertheless, co-ordination and collaboration between both sectors are essential.

IPC in ECA

IPC Nutrition Phase Classification

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