Pulse.ng : FG, KTSG, NGO train health workers on nutrition

By Abbas Bamalli

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in collaboration with Katsina State Government has engaged health workers in a training on Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) course.

The training of 45 participants across eight local government areas was funded by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Nutrition International (NI).

At the opening of the training in Katsina on Tuesday, Mrs Ladidi Bako, Head of Nutrition Department in the ministry said the exercise would last for seven days.

Represented by Mrs Ojiniki Confidence, a Nutrition Officer, Bako said that the aim of the training was to build the capacity of the participants on modern techniques to be equipped efficiently.

She said, “So that they can deliver what is expected from them at the various facilities in their local government areas.

”We are here because of the high rate of malnutrition in Katsina.

“It’s one of the states where we have malnourished children, especially that of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).

”And based on the policy of the ministry, we are trying to move away from just treatment to prevention.

“We are working towards seeing how we can prevent this, so that children will not get to that SAM stage, that’s why we are here in Katsina for the training.”

She explained that before, MIYCN was known as Infant and Young Child feeding training course, but later changed to Maternal infant and young child nutrition course, encompassing the ’maternal’.

According to Bako, following the development, nutrition partners came together and updated the manual, hence the need to update their knowledge based on the global practice.

The NI State Coordinator, Sani Umar, said that the MIYCN training was an intensive one for the health workers that was meant to update their general knowledge on ‘Maternal and Child Nutrition’.

According to him, the aim was to support the state in addressing the issues of maternal and newborn child health challenges in the state.

“And looking at the problem we are having now, the rate of malnutrition is increasing because of the banditry and other security challenges in the state.

“Therefore, there’s a need for partners to come and support the efforts of the state government towards addressing these challenges.

“The participants are going to be trained as trainers. And the federal ministry of health would provide them with a certificate at the end of the training.

“Their capacity will be built in such a way that they can also go down to their local governments and facilities to train others,” Umar said.

According to him, the participants were drawn from Daura, Dutsi, Batagarawa, Mani, Mashi, Rimi, Kaita and Charanchi Local Government Areas.

NAN