Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Enugu State government in partnership with United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has set up a Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) to fight against acute malnutrition and to enhance the well-being of children below the age of five in the state.
This is coming at a time when UNICEF estimates that 138,720 of Enugu state’s 956,690 children under five years old are stunted. This amounts to 14.5 per cent of the total population of children in the state
Executive Secretary of Enugu State Primary Healthcare Centre Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), Dr. George Ugwu, said yesterday that the centres are located within Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in each of the three senatorial zones of the state.
Ugwu said the state had trained health professionals on CMAM in the PHC centres who would freely screen the malnourished children and treat them with Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
He said the PHCs for the CMAM programme were located in Abakpa, Oji River and Obollo-Afor areas, which had been designated as pilot PHC centres from where it would be taken to other PHC centres in the state.
“Malnutrition is life threatening and the underlying course of 50 per cent under five children’s death in Nigeria where over 2.5 million are affected by severe acute malnutrition and Enugu State is among the affected states. In view of the above, ENS-PHCDA in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Health, National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, UNICEF and Ugo Touch of Life Foundation ( U-TOLF) has established special centres in three senatorial zones for free screening and treatment of acute malnutrition in children.