Stunting rates of 41% imply that 4 out of 10 children cannot reach full mental or physical capacity. Many factors contribute to stunting in Afghanistan including sub-optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and care practices, low dietary diversity, food security, lack of clean water and sanitation, poor hygiene and access to health services. The Government of Afghanistan has undertaken several measures to bring strong focus on child nutrition including strengthening community-based nutrition interventions to address child under-nutrition. The Public Nutrition Directorate (PND) of MoPH through support from development partners have developed a well thought out community-based nutrition program (CBNP) has been developed with the support of UNICEF and partners, that is a practical comprehensive minimum service that are delivered at community level. The CBNP comprises both community mobilization and practical demonstrations to educate and motivate behavior change among caregivers through community health workers (CHWs). The CHWs are trained and provided with materials and job aids to ensure they implement the community-level activities such as nutrition education, counselling, and food demonstration on breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
However, the roll out and scale up of CBNP in all the 34 provinces will need close coordination, planning, budgeting, management, and supportive supervision at all levels to ensure quality and that services are reaching all households in Afghanistan. Therefore, the MoPH-PND is looking for a senior officer who will provide technical support and oversight to all implementing partners in the implementation of CBNP and achievement of results for children
