Tajikistan Nutrition Project

Background

Tajikistan is grappling with the triple burden of malnutrition. A total of 225,000 (18%) of children 0-5 years are stunted, 6% are wasted, and another 3% overweight. More than one in two are identified with iron deficiency with 42 % of them anemic. Over one in three of them are vitamin A deficient. Adolescent girls and women aged 15-49 years face high rates of anemia (42%) and vitamin A deficiency (47%), while 7% and 37%of them are underweight and overweight/obese, respectively. Only 36% of mothers in Tajikistan breastfeed their children exclusively for the first six months, a significant decrease from 50% in 2003. Only 63% of the children are introduced to complementary foods at an appropriate age, and only 9% of them receive the minimum acceptable diets in terms of food diversity and meal frequency. Lack of knowledge and awareness about age-appropriate, adequate, diverse, and nutritious diets result in poor Infant and Young Child Feeding practices and dietary patterns. Lack of quality, equitable nutrition services and counselling, inadequate access to safe and clean water, and poor hygiene and sanitation practices further impede improvements to nutrition outcomes for women and children.

This project will ensure pregnant and lactating mothers and children under five years of age and their caregivers benefit from nutritious diets, quality nutrition services and healthy practices to prevent and treat malnutrition and promote healthy growth and development with continuum of nutrition care.

Goals

• Goal I: Improve availability and quality of proven, high-impact nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women and children under five years of age for prevention of malnutrition.
• Goal II: Improve quality of provision of curative nutrition services for children with severe acute malnutrition at primary health care level.
• Goal III: Facilitate social and behavior change through innovative advocacy and communication interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition.

Anticipated Key Results

• Key Result I: 270,000 children under five (0-59 months) reached with nutrition-specific interventions through the proposed project.
• Key Result II: 250,000 children under two (0-23 months) reached with community-level nutrition interventions through the proposed project.
• Key Result III: 500,000 of key community members (caregivers, family members, healthcare workers and policy makers and other) reached with nutrition advocacy and communication messages.