The Nutrition Desk Officer, Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) centre in the Bauchi metropolis, Mrs Rahila Umar says no fewer than 40 new cases of malnutrition are reported weekly.
She made this known in an interview in Bauchi on Thursday.
She attributed the rise in reported cases of malnutrition to ongoing outreach programmes conducted by the centre in communities.
The desk officer said the centre provides care services twice a week, explaining that “Mondays are for new cases which are expected to have 12 visits to the centre before they are discharged.
“We record 40 to 70 new cases weekly, even at that, we restrict the number while on Wednesday, we provide services to over 300 clients for follow up.
“This services include health education and food demonstration to improve on children’s diet.
“We also encourage the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, especially in this season, with intensive caution on hygiene.
“The centre screens children using Middle Upper Arm Circumference (MUAD) to ascertain the severity of the condition.”
Malnutrition is an imbalance between the nutrients your body needs to function and the nutrients it gets. It can mean undernutrition or overnutrition.
You can be malnourished from an overall lack of calories, or you might have a protein, vitamin or mineral deficiency. You might also have more excess calories than your body knows what to do with.
NAN
