SQUEAC report, Aweil East County, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal,(February 2016)

In February 2016 a coverage assessment of services to treat both moderate (MAM) and severe (SAM) acute malnutrition was conducted in the former Aweil East County in the Republic of South Sudan. The assessment used the SQUEAC (semi-quantitative evaluation of access and coverage) methodology and covered services delivered by Action Against Hunger (ACF) (treatment of SAM and MAM) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) (treatment of SAM).

The assessment identified a coverage estimation of 35.8% [CI 95%: 23.6%-50.2%] for the outpatient therapeutic programme (OTP) to treat SAM and 5.6% [CI 95%: 0.9%-10.3%] for the targeted supplementary feeding programme (TSFP) to treat MAM. The quantitative and qualitative data analysis a revealed a series of boosters and barriers to access giving us information on what was positively and negatively influencing coverage. Positive factors included the existence of a community nutrition volunteer network, community based distributers and health staff in clinics that were screening and referring children to treatment services. At community level, leaders were found to be aware of services, which coupled with the general good reputation of the programme, lead to referrals. Finally, a general good awareness of malnutrition and treatment services contributed to children accessing services.