Dr. Maryam Abubakar, Director Community and Family Health (GSPHCDA), flanked by her right, MRA. Ronas Amusa, Gombe State Nutrition Officer and Mrs. Philomena Irene of UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office during the training.
By Akanji Alowolodu, Gombe
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has concluded arrangements to commence a five year programme that will add to it’s efforts of fighting malnutrition among Children under 5 years and their mothers in Gombe State.
The project which is to be implemented in two Local Government Areas of Kwami and Kaltungo, according to Philomena Irene, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Bauchi Office is aimed at preventing malnutrition in children from getting to its worst condition through quick but prompt intervention.
She stated this at the commencement of a seven day training for health workers taking place in Emerald Hotel Gombe.
According to her, the project tagged, ‘Progressing Action on Resilient System for Nutrition through Innovation and Partnership’ (PARSNIP), is targeting a total of 35,000 children aged between six to twenty four months in the two LGAs.
She also said that the programme will among others, empower mothers at the community level with capacity to detect malnutrition at its onset before getting to its worst stage of severe, acute malnutrition (SAM) .
She explained that these mothers who will be change agents in their communities will also be taught appropriate dieting, complementary feeding among others.
The UNICEF Nutrition Expert also explained that, “we will be teaching the health workers how to manage moderate acute malnutrition with a new commodity known as ‘small quantity liquid based formula’.
According to her, ” It prevents moderate acute malnutrition, the children get cured and it is one sachet per day. So, we will be linking that with maternal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) for the two LGA’s “.
Another component of the programme is that it will also empower community leaders, religious leaders using the community social response approach, noting that, covid-19 had rendered many families into poverty.
” We will be working more with the social protection programme in the State to ensure that the mothers or families who are going through hardship, at least, benefit from the social protection programme”, she said.
Mr. Philomena also explained that another component exist where breadwinners (fathers) are empowered to take appropriate decisions for the health, happiness and well being of their families.
“If they do that, they will spend less money on treatment, less time in going to the hospitals, the family is healthier and they are happier. So, it’s an encompassing project that will be beneficial to children and these fathers will be role models”, Mrs. Philomena stated.
She stressed that PARSNIP is different from other UNICEF interventions adding, ” this programme is different because all this while, we’ve been treating severe acute malnutrition (SAM), so we want to now focus more on prevention than treatment so that we spend less money on treatment of SAM. So, our big focus now is prevention before treatment “.
Giving an update on malnutrition situation in Gombe State, Mrs. Ronas Amusa, State Nutrition Officer, said that the stunting rate in Gombe State stands at 44.6 per cent according to 2018 National Nutrition Health Survey report and expressed hope that, “when next the health survey is conducted, our indices will go down”.
Director, Community and Family Health, Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Dr. Maryam Abubakar, lauded the programme saying that it will go a long way to make the state malnutrition free
She said that, ” we managed malnutrition, but now we want to prevent it. In cases we get malnourished children, we go ahead to treat them. Micro nutrients powder will be given to children that are healthy “.
