WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 427

Standard Project Report 2016
The prevention, detection and treatment of acute malnutrition are of paramount importance to help reduce negative
consequences in terms of children mortality, morbidity and long-term effects of malnutrition on early child
development and to ensure positive outcomes in nutrition security. WFP reached 76 percent of the intended
beneficiaries in the targeted areas. The full planned number of beneficiaries could not be reached due to the lack of
cooperating partners, particularly for the programme for the treatment of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) which
required more technical expertise.
Operating in 198 centres and sites, the MAM treatment programme only reached 15 percent of the planned
coverage. A large number of the targeted children aged 6-59 months were in Rakhine State. In the northern part
of Rakhine State, 59 percent of intended beneficiaries were reached and admitted for treatment. This low
achievement was mostly due to the lack of implementing partners given the access constraints and increasing
insecurity towards the end of 2016. Only one cooperating partner was operational, with two nutrition centres.
Furthermore, this partner started MAM treatment only in December 2015 and had to expand the number of children
enrolled in the programme throughout the year. Another potential partner decided to close their office and shut the
programme due to a security incident. In addition, insecurity and ensuing access restrictions resulted in the closure
of the nutrition centres from October to December 2016.
In the central part of Rakhine State, the number of children reached through treatment was also limited as a result
of the fact that in the targeted areas, the wasting prevalence decreased substantially over recent years, resulting in
an estimated number of children with MAM of less than 2,000 among the IDP population. There were therefore not
enough children with MAM present in this area for WFP to reach the planned target for coverage. The performance
rate indicators of the MAM treatment programmes supported by WFP were compliant with the Government of
Myanmar, Sphere standards and surpassed all the end-of-project targets. In 2017, WFP will continue to expand
MAM treatment access in the most affected areas, and will continue to strengthen the capacity of the Government
and cooperating partners in the management of acute malnutrition.
Through the prevention of wasting programme, 92 percent of targeted children aged 6-59 months benefited
from blanket supplementary feeding, indicating a similar level of achievement to 2015. All PLW in the targeted
locations were included in the intervention, with assistance reaching 90 percent of the planned number. The
coverage of the wasting prevention programme was 31.7 percent, mainly as a result of a lack of funding and
insecurity as most targeted areas were located in Rakhine State. In locations where wasting prevention was
implemented, the average household size was high, which might have contributed to a relative higher ratio of
children aged 6-59 months.
The coverage of the stunting prevention programme was 17.3 percent in 2016. The number of beneficiaries reached
was lower than planned mainly as a result of an outbreak of conflict and restricted access in Shan State. Only 60
percent of the targeted children aged 6-23 months and PLW benefited from the stunting prevention intervention,
despite the fact that around 5,000 unplanned children aged 6-23 months were assisted following the floods in 2016.
In the targeted areas, poor infant and young child feeding (ICYF) practices together with insufficient nutritious food
access were among the malnutrition determinants. WFP conducted nutrition counselling and communicated three
key messages on good nutrition practices to PLW and caregivers, including men. The proportion of children who
consumed a minimum acceptable diet, the proportion of the target population who participated in an adequate
number of distributions for the prevention of acute malnutrition programme and all output indicators for the
malnutrition prevention programme were collected through post-distribution monitoring (PDM). WFP was not able to
fully report on the indicators for the prevention of stunting and prevention of acute malnutrition because the PDM
could not reach the targeted areas as a result of access constraints at the time of data collection. Considering
the importance of measuring these nutrition indicators, WFP will continue monitoring these indicators in 2017 to
better understand the outcomes of WFP's nutrition programmes.
Strategic Objective: Reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational cycle of hunger (SO4)
Outcome: Enhanced treatment success among people living with HIV (PLHIV) and tuberculosis (TB) clients.
Activities: Food and nutrition support to PLHIV on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and TB clients
A total of 7,360 TB clients and multi-drug resistant TB clients (MDR-TB) clients and 4,710 people living with HIV
received WFP nutrition assistance during their treatment, predominantly through partnerships with the National TB
Programme and National AIDS Programme. Under the TB and HIV programmes, WFP reached 69 percent of the
targeted beneficiaries. This underachievement was mainly due to funding shortfalls. Nevertheless, the outcomes of
the treatment indicated the success of the programme, surpassing the end-of-project targets for all indicators except
for the TB treatment success rate, which remained equal to the base value. This result for the unchanged level of
TB treatment success is explained by the fact that WFP nutrition interventions also targeted MDR-TB clients, for
whom treatment success was more difficult to achieve as a result of continuous multi-drug resistance challenges.
Strategic Objective: Reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational cycle of hunger (SO4)
Myanmar, Union of (MM)
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Single Country PRRO - 200299