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>> International Workshop on the Integration
of CMAM, April 28-30, 2008 >> Rationale
for the Workshop
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Rationale for the Workshop
The last International CMAM (CTC) Workshop was held in Washington, DC on February 28 – March 2, 2005. Discussion during that event can be credited with progress towards several significant CMAM mileposts, including: official endorsement by WHO of outpatient treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM); acceptance of MUAC as a sole criterion for program admission; and a research and advocacy agenda that has created greater appreciation within the international health community of the true burden of SAM.
Since 2005, CMAM has moved from the margins to the mainstream. Practices once confined to humanitarian emergency programming are migrating rapidly to the standard Maternal and Child Health setting, and national Ministries of Health - not only non-governmental organizations - now number among CMAM implementers. With the recent UN Joint Statement on Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition, and with draft WHO treatment guidelines planned for 2008, this mainstreaming trend is expected to accelerate rapidly, putting additional strain on existing capacity for training and dissemination. Within the humanitarian sphere, there has been a discernable evolution of CMAM programming to address sustainability concerns, and to enable more effective integration into existing national health services, though challenges remain.
At the request of USAID, the FANTA Project conducted a review of CMAM programming in Ethiopia, Malawi and Niger in April – June 2007. The review provides an opportunity to examine the lessons learned from integration and transition of CMAM from an emergency to non-emergency setting.
The International CMAM Workshop on April 28-30, 2008 is intended to share findings from this review, introduce other voices and experience related to integration and scaling up of CMAM, and consider developments in the programming landscape that are likely to have implications for integration.
The most important of these is probably the growing interest in the provision of CMAM to people living with HIV, a development that affects CMAM integration at every level (protocols, outreach, supplies). Other significant developments include costing initiatives at various stages; efforts to link with nutrition education and other preventive measures; and new formulations of Ready-To-Use Foods.
The workshop is not designed to determine best-practices related to CMAM integration; however, by offering a range of actors the opportunity to describe and compare their experiences, it can serve as an important milestone en route to consensus on best practices. Presentations will be geared toward an audience of CMAM practitioners, and will be followed by general discussion guided by session chairs.
