Micronutrient Initiative

Objet publié

This project aims to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable and hard-to-reach people, especially women, newborns, children and adolescent girls belonging to host communities in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. The project offers support in response to undernutrition in these communities, related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Project activities include: (1) training frontline health workers on how to provide quality nutrition services to vulnerable women, men, girls and boys; (2) training officials of relevant ministries on developing a coordinated, gender-responsive and environmentally-friendly behaviour change communication package for improving the nutritional status of hard-to-reach communities; (3) providing technical assistance to Bangladesh’s Department of Environment and Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs on promoting adolescent nutrition and services to address gender-based violence; (4) procuring fortified rice for selected social safety net programs that target poor and vulnerable groups, including women of reproductive age and children; and (5) conducting advocacy with key decision makers on recommendations for scaling up gender-responsive nutrition programs which target poor and vulnerable groups, especially children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women. This project is expected to benefit about 3 million people living in the eight sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar.. It includes 165,000 pregnant and lactating women, 570,000 children under 5 years of age and 131,000 adolescent girls and boys. The project also targets selected social safety net programs in Cox’s Bazar through which an estimated 455,000 of the most poor and vulnerable people, including 113,000 women of reproductive age, can receive fortified rice