Leaving no one behind: Community Management of At-risk Mothers and Infants under six months (MAMI) in the context of COVID-19 in Gambella refugee camps, Ethiopia

Abstract

Refugees are at an increased risk of contracting Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) due to their suboptimal living environment and inadequate access to healthcare services. As refugee-hosting countries are preparing to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19 infections by diverting healthcare efforts, it is equally important to prevent the collapse of existing lifesaving services, including those provided during the first 1,000 days (nutrition services from conception to a child’s second birthday). 
 Recently, many international organisations, including United Nations agencies, have published guidance documents for programming in refugee context. Similarly, there is global guidance available for nutrition programs in the context of COVID-19, such as -infant and young child feeding, management of child wasting, and nutrition information management; however, no specific guidance is available for community management of nutritionally at-risk mothers and infants under six months (MAMI).
 In response to the major refugee influx, mainly women and children, from South Sudan, GOAL, an international humanitarian response organisation, is implementing a MAMI program since 2014. GOAL believes, despite COVID-19 context, it is critical to continue the MAMI program with adaptive measures to prevent and manage malnutrition among at-risk mothers and infants. In this regard, considering available international guidelines, both nutrition and refugee context-specific, GOAL has developed its own guidelines for the refugee population.
 In this article, we present GOAL Ethiopia’s COVID-19 response within nutrition support services, for the South Sudanese refugees, focused on at-risk mothers with infants under six months, living in two Gambella refugee camps. We believe our guidelines will also be helpful for other organisations implementing MAMI in different contexts.