Ms Juliet Chiluwe, UNICEF Field Officer, Enugu, speaking at the event.
From Maurice Okafor, Enugu
The Enugu State Government, in partnership with UNICEF, has trained frontline healthcare workers drawn from the 17 local government areas of the state on the administration of Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (SQ-LNS), Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS), and Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) screening for children between six and 23 months to prevent stunted growth and malnutrition.
The three-day training programme was designed to ensure the effective distribution and proper administration of the nutritional commodities procured by the state government in collaboration with UNICEF, so that they reach the intended beneficiaries.
Organised by the Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ENSPHCDA) and the Ministry of Health, with support from UNICEF resource persons, the intensive training programme ended on Friday, May 29, at Dannic Hotels, Enugu.
Speaking at the event, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Enugu, Juliet Chiluwe, urged the participants to apply the knowledge gained during the training to help prevent micronutrient malnutrition among children and women.
According to her, ” 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.
“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. You should ensure that the commoditied are evenly circulated in the health care units”.
Chiluwe commended the Enugu State Government for providing counterpart funding for the procurement of the enhanced SQ-LNS micronutrient supplements.
She expressed optimism that the participants would serve as trainers for other healthcare workers in their various local government areas, thereby ensuring proper distribution of the supplements to end users.
She further stated: “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 encouraged caregivers and nursing mothers to access the micronutrient supplements, which are available free of charge at primary healthcare centres across the state.
In her words, “My advice to the public is that the caregivers, nursing mothers and fathers should take advantage of this initiative and ensure that their children are well immunized, the pregnant women should attend antenatal services and they are to that the children aged between 6 months to 23 months are supported with SQ-LNS”.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, who was represented by Dr. Chinelo Nnadi, Director of Disease Control and Immunisation at the agency, said the training was aimed at equipping healthcare workers with the skills required for the proper administration of the supplements.
She said: “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.”
According to her, proper training is critical to achieving the state’s goal of reducing child malnutrition.
She explained: “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 advice mothers to access the commodities because they are free of charge.”
One of the resource persons, Dr. Robert Chima, said the training would equip participants with the knowledge required to reduce malnutrition and infant mortality across the state.
He noted that, as officers in charge of their respective health facilities, the participants play a critical role in ensuring the proper administration of the micronutrient supplements.
Chima warned that without adequate knowledge and proper application of the guidelines, the supplements may not be effectively administered, thereby undermining the efforts and resources invested by the Enugu State Government and UNICEF in procuring them.
