Pulse.ng : SPHCB, Alive & Thrive sensitise NFPs on Multiple Micronutrient Supplements for pregnant women in Kaduna

By Sani Idris

Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB) and Alive & Thrive (A&T), have begun a two-day sensitisation program for Nutrition Focal Persons (NFPs) across the 23 LGAs of Kaduna State on Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for pregnant women in the state.

A&T, a global nutrition program, aims to improve the health and well-being of mothers and children in developing countries.

The program focuses on promoting optimal maternal and infant nutrition practices, including breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, and adequate micronutrient intake

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the sensitisation, was organised by the SPHCB with support from A&T and other Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) MMS grantees: UNICEF, Nutrition International, Results for Development (R4D) and Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).

The State Team Lead for A&T, Mrs Sarah Kwasu, said the sensitisation program aimed at improving the state and LGAs nutrition stakeholders MMS programing/planning knowledge and capacity.

Kwasu equally said the sensitisation was aimed at integrating A&T's MMS support into State MMS implementation plan for the second half of 2024.

According to her, it would help the state and LGA nutritlon stakeholders appreciate A&T MMS mandates and support as well as securing nutriton stakeholder by-in.

She therefore emphasised the significance of MMS in reducing the prevalence of malnutrition in the state.

Speaking further, kwasu lamented that one in five maternal deaths and nearly half of all chlld deaths under age five are caused by malnutrition.

She also said that the prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductlve age and pregnant women In Nigeria is widely recognized as an important publlc health problem because of its negative consequences for pregnancy outcome and its impact on maternal mortalty.

She added that over the past five decades, Iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation has become a core component of antenatal care for pregnant women In Nigeria to address anaemia.

The team lead however said while IFA are critlcal nutrients, they are not the only nutrients that pregnant women may need to suppot their health and the health of their children.

She therefore said women need nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustalnable diets along with essentlal nutrition services and positive nutrition practices for their own survival, heallh and well-being as well as that of their children.

She encouraged the NFPs to disseminate the knowledge gained to expectant mothers and caregivers in their respective communities.

Speaking on maternal nutrition and nutritional needs during pregnancy, Mr Olumide Faleke, the Senior Technical Advisor, Interpersonal Communication/Community Mobilisation of A&T, lamented that across the world, women diets are often poor in quality and lack nutrients.

Faleke stressed that maternal nutrition is critical to ensuring that women have healthy pregnancies and that children grow into healthy adults.

"Yet evidence showed that women In low-resource settings find it difficult to meet their daily dietary requirements leading to high proportion of women of reproductive age wilh low minimum dietary diversity across the nation", he lamenented.

Earlier, the Kaduna State Nutriton Officer (SNO), Mrs Ramatu Haruna, commended A&T for their efforts in improving maternal and child nutrition in the state.

Haruna, represented by her assistant, Blessing Maikano, assured them of the state government's continued support for nutrition-related initiatives.

Delivering goodwill messages, the Director, Development Aid Coordination at the state's Planning and Budget Commission (PBC), Hajiya Aisha Muhammad and the Project Manager of Kaduna Emergency Nutriton Action Plan (KADENAP) Umar Bamballe, emphasised the importance of collaboration in addressing malnutrition.

Muhammad was represented by Ms Grace Dogo, a Planning Officer at the PBC.

The duo encouraged the NFPs to work closely with other healthcare providers to ensure the effective delivery of MMS.

Also, the State Coordinator of CS-SUNN in Kaduna, Ms Jessica Bartholomew, commended A&T for organising the MMS orientation for the stakeholders.

Bartholomew restated CS-SUNN's commitment to improving maternal and child health in Nigeria through the advocacy and the promotion MMS for pregnant women.

"We are complimenting the state government in combating malnutrition and ensuring healthier future for countless families. Our commitment to scaling up nutrition in Kaduna is our vision and it is vital in increasing the human capital development,"she said.

On her part, Chinwe Ezeife, the Nutrition Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna field office, highlighted their mandate on scaling MMS in Nigeria, through Bill and Melinda Gates (BMGF) funded project (2023-2027).

Ezeife stated that at the Introduction of the project of scaling up MMS in Nigeria, UNICEF supported the government at the federal to develop a criteria for selection of project locations/states, and target setting by three years to ensure government interest is well represented.

She added that UNICEF is supporting the state to ensure that National guidelines on micronutrients deficiency control is the guiding document for implementing MMS.

"UNICEF will support to domesticate relevant policies at state level where applicable and inclusion of MMS into essential medicine lists".

Eziefe disclosed that plans were currently on ground to conduct project inception meeting with high-level authorities to facilitate action, especially around the release of counterpart funding for the procurement of essential nutrition commodities.

Also Mr Olajimi Afeez of R4D, said they have their projects across different states in the country, all relating to MMS.

He added that being the first time of R4D in Kaduna, they want to develop a road map for the introduction and scale up of MMS.

"MMS is a much better innovative drug that has all the essential vitamins for pregnant women to carry their babies till delivery.

"So we want to help Kaduna State in thinking about all of this and also design the road map for it which involves the health workers and right supply chain channels to know if there is leadership and coordination available to lead to the scale up.

"We also aim to have a financial costing model for the state so that it has enough funds, from the state itself or from the partners, to sustain MMS,"Afeez said.

NAN reports that the sensitisation program included interactive sessions and a question-and-answer session, ensuring that participants were well-equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote the proper use of MMS in their communities.(NAN)