By: Haruna Kuyateh
The National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) on Thursday wrapped up a four-day training for 40 nurses and village health services on Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) and Outpatient Care to enhance the effective management of malnourished children.
Participants for this training funded by UNICEF were drawn from hospital and health centers in the Lower River Region, North Bank West, and Western Region 1, and it was held at Mansa Wally Lodge in the Lower River Region.
Bakary Jallow, Director of Programmes at NaNA spoke at length on the importance of capacity development, noting that it would contribute to proper and timely treatment of malnourished children.
According to him, the training was designed to enhance the greater understanding of participants on Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition, Severe Acute Malnutrition, and Outpatient Management. He disclosed that WHO studies show that annually 1 million children under five die in developing countries while 50% of children die as a result of malnutrition.
Therefore, people need to take appropriate action to protect malnourished children and to ensure proper health care service is provided to them, he appealed.
Director Jallow outlined the three types of malnutrition in the Gambia as undernutrition comprising of wasting, stunning, and underweight while noting that 5% of children are wasted. He added that the country has met the WHO target of reducing waste.
Three types of micronutrients malnutrition remain a public health problems and call for concerted efforts in combating micronutrients in the country.
Nutrition is a big concern as stated by WHO that, millions of children are dying as a result of undernutrition, as 50% of all childhood death are as a result of malnutrition.
He disclosed that the government through the NaNA and partners developed a comprehensive protocol for Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition, a guide based on WHO guidelines on how to manage children, when they have Severe Acute Malnutrition or Moderate Acute to manage children.
Alieu Kujabi, Programme Manager at NaNA thanked the Ministry of Health through Regional Health Directorates for their support in promoting nutritional development of under five years.
Fabakary Bass, NaNA Nutrition Field Coordinator said the training is relevant and aimed to contribute to the reduction of mortality through promoting the fight against malnutrition.
He quickly urged participants to be committed in sharing knowledge and skills with colleagues to make a difference in service delivery while adding that there is a need for proper reporting of accurate data on supply against consumption rate.
Fatou Jawneh, a trainer from the Ministry of Health called on Nurses to be proactive and be good role models in promoting better management of malnourished children. She said networking and communication would help to bridge information gaps and improve nutrition service.
Amadou Jallow, NaNA Nutrition Field Supervisor North Bank West, and Bubacar Dibba from Bundung Maternal Hospital delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the Ministry