In partnership with UNICEF, the “support to decentralize Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) care through outreach clinics and support access to families to treatment services” project facilitates access of SAM patients to treatment services in outreach clinics located across Anuradhapura, Rathnapura, Kandy, Polonnaruwa, Matale, Monaragala, Puttalam, Kurunegala, and Kegalle. 

In Sri Lanka, all children diagnosed with SAM are referred for treatment at a specialized centre in a hospital for management (Paediatric or Nutrition clinic). As most of the children detected with SAM are not reaching the referred hospital to get the treatment, UNICEF, through locally recruited Civil Society Organizations, supported parents to transport their affected children to the referral centres and outreach clinics for further management. 

The Sarvodaya will undergo initial training on the operational process of the intervention in each district with facilitation from the health staff and UNICEF. Additional human resources dedicated to the intervention will also be recruited to handle the work efficiently in all districts with strong coordination support from a project manager.  

Each month the core project team members from Sarvodaya will participate in a technical session together with other CSO partners, in which logistics and transport capacities will be strengthened. Sarvodaya will also engage village-level volunteers for 6 months and enhance their capacity through training and joint field work with the guidance of health staff.  

The project currently has a scope of 7,000 toddlers aged between 6- 59 Months, and is active across Anuradhapura, Rathnapura, Kandy, Polonnaruwa, Matale, Monaragala, Puttalam, Kurunegala, and Kegalle.