Health experts have ascribed major cause of high-level infant (under-5) and maternal mortality figure to poor nutrition and malnutrition.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a five-day training programme of the Maternal Infant Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) Training of Trainers among health workers in Ilorin on Tuesday, the state commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina El-Imam, said that inadequate nutrition has far-reaching implications for the child and the nation at large.
The training programme, by the Federal Ministry of Health, Social Welfare (FMoHSW) and Kwara State Ministry of Health with the support of the World Bank (ANRiN project), was organized for the State level training of trainers (ToT) to increase the pool of trainers for step-down of training to health facilities in the state.
The commissioner, who said that malnutrition-related deaths account for about 50 per cent of infant and maternal deaths in the country, described the figure as unacceptable.
“The provision of adequate nutrition during pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, and early childhood remains an important means of addressing malnutrition thus ensuring adequate development and promotion of optimum growth, health, and behaviour of the mother and child.
“The first 1,000 days, that is, from conception to a child’s second birthday is recognized as a critical period during which adequate nutrition should be provided for the child to achieve optimum growth, development, and full potential.
“Inadequate nutrition has far-reaching implications for the child and the nation at large; these include developmental delays, impaired educational ability, a lifetime of poor health, increased risk of chronic diseases, and early death.
“To effectively implement the laudable Maternal Infant and Child Nutrition (MIYCN) policy, which is a roadmap to improving major maternal and child nutrition indices, there is an urgent need to equip our health workers with required knowledge and competence for a result-oriented MIYCN counselling and support to mothers and children,” she said.
Also speaking, director for Public Health, Kwara State Ministry of Health, Dr. Oluwatosin Fakayode, described high level of infants under 5 and maternal mortality figures as unacceptable.
“Our health indices remain unacceptably high in the country and Kwara state, particularly the infant under-5 mortality as well as maternal mortality figures. Major cause of this is undernutrition called poor nutrition.
“When you look at causes of maternal and newborn deaths, and under-5 deaths, malnutrition-related death account for about 50 per cent. So, when you solve problems of nutrition, you can reduce death rate.
Fakayode, who said that the training programme aimed to increase knowledge base of health care workers in the state as well as knowledge base, attitude, and practice of mothers, pregnant women, and adolescent girls, said that it would improve what people eat and quality of what they eat diversity of food, towards reducing issue of malnutrition and under-5 deaths.
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