From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo

Ebonyi State had the worst indicator of malnutrition in the South East, as a 2018 annual survey showed that about 20,000 children died annually due to acute malnutrition.

The nutrition officer in the state Ministry of Health, Cyprian Ogbonna, had during a meeting of the Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilisation Core Group in Abakaliki, in September 2021, decried the rate of malnutrition in the state. He described the death rate caused by the condition as worrisome.

It was in response to the unenviable development that the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development intervened to reverse the trend.

Recently, the Federal Government, through its National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, engaged a non-governmental organisation, First Humanitarian Medic Plus Initiative (FHMP) to deliver child intensive nutrition intervention, with the aim of improving community knowledge and raise awareness on preventive measures against malnutrition.

The exercise, which took place at Iboko, headquarters of Izzi Local Government Area of the state, drew participants from across all the component communities of the LGA. They were educated on maternal and child nutrition.

The facilitator, Umar Abdulazak Karabonde, stated that his office in collaboration with the federal ministry had organised similar programmes across the six geo-political zones, noting that Ebonyi State was chosen from the South-East region as the place with the highest rate of malnutrition.

According to him, the essence of the programme was to enhance the understanding of the participants and community volunteers regarding infant and young child feeding practices.

He added that other reasons were to remould the eating habits of the people, which would go a long way in preventing health issue and also enlighten the people on water sanitation, hygiene and growth monitoring and promotion.

“No one can say that our environments lack food, rather, the problem is how to eat the food and when; with the training, the revived children will be prevented from falling into relapse or reccurrence,” he said.

Executive secretary, Ebonyi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Catherine Barry-Oko, commended the ministry and the organisers for choosing Ebonyi for the event and urged the participants to take proactive measure so that the effects of the programme would reflect in the lives of the children.

She said: “The purpose of this training is for you to put it into use by practicing the idea in your respective homes and also pass the knowledge to other persons within your localities.

“With these approaches, you will easily find out a better health condition of your children within the shortest period.”

Izzi Council chairman, Paul Nwogha, who was represented by the administrative secretary, Mrs. Philomena Ibo, said he would not relent in stepping down the sensitization to the grassroots.

“We will follow it up to ensure that the enlightenment is spread across the hinterlands and in the course of doing this I will equally tell people that good nutrition starts from the period of pregnancy.

“Because, at that stage, the children will get colostrum, known as the first breast milk after birth that is usually yellow; with this exercise, the wrong impression which some mothers have over the milk will be corrected.

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“Additionally, people have equally learnt that the children should not always be provided with starchy foods, rather, the diets will always be alternated with protein foods and other vitamins,” he said.

However, the nutrition officer in Ebonyi State Ministry of Health, Cyprian Ogbonna, attributed the unimpressive result in the fight against malnutrition to paucity of funds. He then called for partnership with other agencies so that the problem could be handled optimally.

“I can flash back to 2018 annual survey, which showed that there is no improvement as far as the state is concerned. It is on this note that the Federal Government, in partnership with FHMP, picked Ebonyi State as one of the places with the indicators of malnutrition.

“When I was contacted, I realised that Izzi was the most populated council area in the state, which also had high number of malnourished children. After some consultations with some critical stakeholders, the place was chosen for the exercise,” he explained.

Noting that the issue of tackling malnutrition could not be handled by government alone, Ogbonna further called for assistance from other local and international NGOs.

He also said that the sensitization effort would be taken to schools, churches and through other channels of communication.

Ogbonna admonished the participants, especially those working in health facilities, to take the exercise seriously by educating other women during immunisation days.

“They are to be enlightened on dietary diversity; rather than targeting meats, one can easily use what she has within her garden such as vegetables to prevent the ailment.

“Excessive consumption of meat can lead to hypertension and other health problems. So, they are advised to make use of some fruits such as mango, apple, orange, cucumber and a lot more.   

“At this stage, partnership is necessary because every home has one challenge or another concerning malnutrition and I am equally appealing that the state government should extend a similar programme across other council areas.

“Because with the measure, we will reduce the case of malnutrition in our homes and in the state,” he said.

Ogbonna, who applauded the compliance of the participants, charged them to spread the information in their various localities, assuring them that government was going to roll out a massive enlightenment campaign.

“So, there is a need to improve advocacy, especially in the rural areas. We can save more lives, if we can reach to the poorest in society and enlighten them more on nutrition,” he said.

A participant, Mrs. Esther Ejoke, expressed happiness over the exercise and promised to always adhere to the knowledge imparted to them.

“With this programme, I have learnt how to prepare pap and other foods for my children, I can now easily know when my children are emaciating,” she said.