The State Coordinator, of Nutrition International in Kebbi state, Mr Babatunde Lawani says the coverage of vitamin A intake by children in the state is 52 per cent according to the PECS survey.
He made the disclosure while making presentation at a one-day meeting organised by Nutrition International in collaboration with the Kebbi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency held in Birnin Kebbi.
The meeting drew health workers from various Local Government Areas of the state to further enhance their knowledge and skills in ensuring improved quality and reach during the implementation of maternal and child health week.
Lawani noted that the data was gotten from a survey conducted after the first round of MNCHW across the state, adding that the survey was meant to validate the administrative data from the MNCHW exercise.
He explained that there were series of intervention packages that were given to children across the state, adding that some of the packages included; vitamin A, Albendazole, iron folic acid, long lasting mosquito nets and SP among others.
The coordinator said that the packages aimed to encourage access to health services, while the campaign was also done to encourage uptake of services by the community.
“Instead of sitting down while you have health facilities around you without taking advantage of it, they want people to know how important these facilities are and take advantage of services therein, particularly for children under five.
“Vitamin A being the face of the campaign, it’s not the only intervention that is given but it’s the face,” he noted.
Speaking at the event, Bello Aliyu, Acting State Nutrition Officer, said the essence of the workshop was to disseminate the findings that have been conducted during the first round of MNCHW week.
“We intend to improve from what we have seen. Basically when a survey is conducted, it has to come out with some findings that will give room to a programme or activity to have a way of improving.
“So, we want to use the findings and recommendations from the survey to make a mitigation plan for improvement,” Aliyu said.
On Its importance to Kebbi, he said, it was meant to give a direction and also help in tracking and moving the nutrition indices forward, “most especially the distribution of vitamin A and deworming among others.
“So, it will give us an ample opportunity to plan very well and address very well the challenges identified during the first round.”
He noted with satisfaction that Kebbi indices for nutrition is improving, while tasking the stakeholders to continue to make impact on MNCHW second round.
NAN
