UNICEF Deploys New Approach To End Malnutrition In Gombe
- Targets 34,000 children in 2 LGAs
BY WILLIAM ATTAH, GOMBE –Â The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is set to commence a five-year programme aimed at strengthening its efforts in the fight to tackle malnutrition in Gombe State.
According to the Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Bauchi Office, Philomena Irene, the project will commence in two Local Government Areas of Kwami and Kaltungo, with the aim of preventing malnutrition in children from getting worst.
Speaking at the commencement of a seven-day training for health workers in Emerald Hotel, Gombe, Irene said the project, Progressing Action on Resilient System for Nutrition through Innovation and Partnership (PARSNIP), targets 35,000 children aged six months to 24 months in the two Local Government Areas.
She said the programme will among others, empower mothers at the community level with the capacity to detect malnutrition at its onset before getting to its worst stage, adding that these mothers, as change agents in their communities, will also be taught appropriate dieting, and complementary feeding among others.
The Nutrition Specialist 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’.
“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 LGAs “.
Noting that COVID-19 has pushed many families into poverty, Irene said another component of the programme is to empower the community and religious leaders, using the Community Social Response Approach.
“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.
Similarly, the UNICEF officer said another component exists where breadwinners (fathers) are empowered to take appropriate decisions for the health, happiness and well being of their families, adding;Â “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 Irene, who explained that PARSNIP is unlike other UNICEF interventions, said; “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 in order to spend less money on treatment of SAM. So, our big focus now is prevention before treatment “.
Giving an update on the malnutrition situation in Gombe, the State Nutrition Officer, Mrs Ronas Amusa said the stunting rate in Gombe State stands at 44.6 per cent according to the 2018 National Nutrition Health Survey report and expressed hope that “when next the health survey is conducted, our indices will go down”.
On her part, the Director of Community and Family Health, Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Dr Maryam Abubakar, lauded the programme saying; “We managed malnutrition, but now we want to prevent it.
“In cases where we get malnourished children, we will go ahead to treat them while micronutrients powder will be given to children that are healthy.”