The Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ADSPHDA)has begun a three day refresher training for 300 health workers on community management of acute malnutrition.
Mr Wulanga Alfred, state Nutrition Officer who addressed the participants in Yola on Thursday, said the training was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
He said the participants would be exposed to management of cases of acute malnutrition, infant and young child feeding, exclusive breast feeding for six months without water, and building their capacity on service delivery.
According to him the agency has established 136 out patient thereupeutic malnutrition treatment centers across the 21 existing Local Government Areas of the state, saying we are ahead of many states interms of number of treatment centers.
He announced that from January to July, 22,409 children had received treatments against the severe cases of acute malnutrition, adding that those treated were children from six to 59 months old.
“Out of the total number of the treated children, 18,351 were completely cured while 82 died, 488 defaulted and 37 non recovered.
In her remarks, Mrs Hauwa Musa, Director, Community Health Services, identified some of the causes of malnutrition as failure of mothers to strictly adhere to the six minths exclusive breast feeding from 0 to six months.
According to her, the level of compliance on exclusive breast feeding has been 29.9 per cent only, as indicated within this year, while attributing the successes recorded in the treatment of the disease to the regular support of the state government.
She lauded the commitment and dedication of the frontline health workers who traversed various nooks and crannies of the state to deliver health services.
Dr Tushar Rane, the UNICEF official, commended the state primary Health Care Development Agency for timely commencement of the training.
She said the refresher training was informed by the retirement from service, transfers and death of some health workers hence the need for training and retraining for effective performance.
According to her, the state faces high prevelance of stunting rate of 39.4 per cent, saying the trend has long term effect on individuals and communities, including poor cognition on educational performances.
She added that low adult wages, lost productivity and an increased risk of nutrition related diseases would be recorded if not tackled.
