COSMAS CHUKWU, Enugu
In a bid to ensure that children are not malnourished and grow to be healthy, the Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, PHDA and the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the United Nations Childrens Fund, UNICEF conducted a three-day intensive training for frontline health workers on the use of Small Quantity LIPID-BASED Nutrient Supplement(SQ-LNS), MMS and MUAC screening.
The three day intensive training which culminated at the weekend, was attended by health workers from the 17 local government areas from the primary health centres in Enugu State.
The micro nutrient supplement is to be given to children between the age of six months to 23 months to enable them feed well and not suffer malnutrition or stunted growth.
Speaking at the end of the training, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Enugu, Juliet Chiluwe, thanked the Enugu State Government for making available the counterpart fund for the procurement of the enhanced SQ-LNS micro nutrient supplement.
Chiluwe said that part of their mandates is to partner with states to ensure that the right of children is attained, pointing out that the training would enable the participating health workers to scale the training down to other health workers and ensure the even distribution of the commodities to end users.
“The mandate of UNICEF is to partner with states to ensure that the rights of children are attained. By attaining the right of children, it implies that the state is benefiting from having a high human capital index.
”So the government of Enugu State under the leadership of Gov. Peter Mbah partnered with UNICEF to the Child Nutrition Fund and also support from US. We are finalizing the training for frontline health workers who wilk administer the nutrients to children at the health centres.”
She therefore urged caregivers and mothers to afford themselves the opportunity of accessing the commodities for the welfare of their children.
“My advice to the public is that the caregivers, mothers and fathers should take advantage of this initiative and ensure that their children are well immunized, the pregnant women attend antenatal services and even that the children aged between 6 months to 23 months are supported with SQ-LNS.
“In essence we are trying to prevent micro nutrient malnutrition. These commodities are meant for the children and they are meant to be administered to children, so it is important that there should not be any leakages to the local markets. They should ensure that the commodity is circulated.
“At the end of the training, the participants will have the capacity to administer the SQ-LNS packages and also the awareness because it is like a refresher to manage women and children that visit them,” she said.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Ifeyinwa An-Osheku, represented by Dr. Chinelo Nnadi, Director of Disease Control and Immunisation in the Enugu State Primary Health Development Agency said that the training was to enable health workers know the proper use of the supplement.
“This three day workshop being organised by the Enugu State Primary Health Development Agency with the Ministry of Health in conjunction with UNICEF is to train frontline healthcare workers on the use of SQ-LNS, that have been acquired by the state government.
“We appreciate his Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah for making available the child nutrition fund and also UNICEF that marched the fund to be able to procure this supplement for our children in Enugu State.”
She said that without the proper training of the health workers the aim of reducing malnutrition might not be achieved.
“Without proper training, for this OIC and the nutrition focal persons, you will agree with me that our efforts will not achieve the desired result. So this training has been an intense one. We invited the officers in charge in the various health facilities that will be implementing this nutrient supplement to PHCs and they have been here for the past three days, telling them about the commodity, the utilisation and the proper documentation of these commodities to the end users.
“It is meant for children between six months and twenty three months and each child is to take 180 sachets and it is supposed to be for six months. When a child takes this sachet, it is expected that the nutritional status of the child will improve and hardly will that child fall into malnutrition when it is appropriately taken and that is why we are training these workers to go down to the communities to scale it down to the other health workers and sensitise mothers that have eligible children with this age range to come to the facilities and access this nutrient. It is free of charge.
”It is a nutrient supplement to augument what is being fed to the child. It is a high dense nutrients given to these children to boost their immunity and nutritional status. I advise mothers to access the commodities because they are free of charge,” she charged.
One of the resource persons, Dr. Robert Chima said that the training would enable the participants gain the needed knowledge that would help reduce malnutrition and infant mortality in the state since they are the officers in charge of their respective health facilities.
Chima said that without proper knowledge, the micro nutrient supplement will not be judiciously administered and the efforts of the Enugu State Government and UNICEF in procuring them would be a wasted effort and resources.
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