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1 Published on K4Health ( Home > Suaahara Nutrition Project in Nepal The purpose of the Suaahara Knowledge Sharing Site is to help Suaahara partners work synergistically by providing one virtual space to share and comment on research, resources, activities, successes, and other information related to the project. Partners invited to participate in this site include the following: Save the Children (SAVE) Helen Keller International (HKI) Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) Jhpiego Nepali Technical Assistance Group (NTAG) Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) Nutrition Promotion and Consultancy Service (NPCS) Donor: USAID ************************************************************* SUAAHARA BACKGROUND: Nepal is one of the most undernourished countries in the world. 41% of the under-five children suffer from stunting, 13% suffer from wasting, and 39% are underweight. Socio-economic, geographic, and environmental factors all contribute to the poor nutritional status of

2 Nepalis. The first National Health Sector Plan (NHSP) identified populations particularly vulnerable to under-nutrition, including pregnant women, infants and young children. USAID/Nepal is funding a five-year (2011? 2016) integrated nutrition program, Suaahara* - Building Strong and Smart Families, which uniquely integrates nutrition, hygiene, agriculture, family planning, reproductive health and child health activities at the household and community level in 20 rural districts with poor nutrition indicators. Suaahara will focus on the first 1000 days, directly addressing the vulnerable points of development which result in stunting. * Suddha Santulit Aahar, Hamro Jeevan Rakchhya ko Baliyo Aadhaar GOAL & OBJECTIVES: The overall goal of Suaahara is to improve and sustain the health and well-being of the Nepali people. The program envisions:? Improved health and nutrition behaviors at household and community level? Increased use of quality nutrition and health services by women and children? Increased production and consumption of diverse and nutritious foods by women and their families? Strengthened coordination on nutrition between government and other stakeholders SUAAHARA PROGRAM DISTRICTS:

3 Suaahara works in 41 districts with cluster offices in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Dhangadi and a sub-cluster office in Butwal. SUAAHARA WORKS AT FOUR LEVELS: National: Suaahara will work with the government to support national policies and strategies and to promote increased investment in nutrition. Regional: Suaahara will work with the government to strengthen health, agricultural and other systems that can improve nutrition.

4 District: Suaahara will work with health, agriculture, local development and physical planning stakeholders to improve district capacity. Community: Suaahara will help communities adopt optimal care, health and feeding practices that affect maternal and child nutrition. Suaahara?s cross-cutting themes include social and behavior change communication, gender equity and social inclusion, capacity building and learning through continuous monitoring and evaluation. SUAAHARA INTERVENTION COMPONENTS: In 41 districts, Suaahara works to improve supply and demand for nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions to reduce under-nutrition among women and children less than 2 years of age. Key Suaahara interventions are:? Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) to improve household behaviors related to maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN)? Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA) to ensure optimal hygiene and sanitation at a household level? Homestead food production (HFP) to improve consumption of diverse foods especially greens and animal-source foods? Strengthened health services including improved counseling during sick child visits, improved capacity to detect and treat severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and family planning services to support healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy? Increase demand for such health system services as family planning, antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care (PNC) and Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS: Managed through Save the Children, Suaahara implementing partners include Helen Keller International, Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, Nepali Technical Assistance Group, Nepal Water for Health, and Nutrition Promotion and Consultancy Service. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SUAAHARA PROGRAM, PLEASE CONTACT: at Save the Children Nepal Country Office G.P.O.Box 3394, Airport Gate, Shambhu Marg, Shree Krishna Bhawan, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel.: (+977 1) , , , , suaahara.nepal@savethechildren.org ====================================================================== For more information about this site, please contact Kathryn Bertram at kbertram@jhuccp.org or

5 Dharma Raj Bajracharya at Source URL: