Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Six weeks after Kwami Local Government Area in Gombe got a Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) over 350 malnourished children are said to be undergoing treatment.
Confirming the influx of clients at the newly created CMAM site, Kwami Local Government Nutrition Focal person Jamilatu Ahmad Wakili, said Gombe LGA used to receive clients from this local government adding that all that has changed.
Wakili bemoaned the unavailability of adequate manpower, and tools such as weighing scale and thermometer for clients.
She revealed this on Tuesday, when a Civil Society Media Advocacy group, in partnership with the four Consortium; Aisha Buhari Foundation,Civil Society Legislative Advocacy centre, International Society of Media in Public Health, and Network for Health Equity and Development visited the less than two months old Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition, Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Program centre.
According to her, “We have 350 clients so far, we started with 50 and it kept increasing in the last 6 weeks. We have been referring clients to Gombe. I can’t give a specific number of people that we have referred to Gombe, because we have many wards and at times they refer them without my knowledge. I’m personally very happy for the establishment of this CMAM centre. You can see the turn out of the clients, they are from various communities and they are also happy.
“Our challenges are that we don’t have mats, thermometers, timers, and infants weighing scales. We are just managing.
“We also need shade and chairs for them to sit so that they will be comfortable. The staff also needs chairs cause sometimes we work while standing and we also need more staff. This is the Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding centre and we only have 5 trained staff, though we are doing a step down training for those that have never been to the training. But the most pressing need we have now are; timers, infant weighing scales, thermometers and chairs for the clients.”
Wakili added that the Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition centre in Kwami, has made appreciable gains.
“We have achieved a lot because every Tuesday morning I go round and ask them if there was any improvement and they will happily say yes and that they thank God and the staff, there are a lot of achievements. The achievement is obviously most especially with the weight of the children,” she stated.
A mother, who is also a client, said she observed that her daughter was stunted and then began to seek solution without knowing it was induced by malnutrition.
The woman who simply identified herself as Hadiza added that her daughter’s sickness is the reason for her coming to the site.
Just like many mother’s Hadiza said she ascribed her child’s weigh loss to spiritual attacks, until her visit to the site where it was confirmed that her young baby was malnourished.
“This is the second time of my coming here. Then I heard that they give it free with payment in maternity so I took her and brought her there. After she was tested, they said she will eat it, they described the way I will give her then they gave us. She ate and the result is evident. I have nothing to say other than to be appreciative,” she said.
Fatima Usman, is a middle aged mother of Usman a malnourished child.
She said her 2 year old son had difficulty positioning his head at a steady range.
She said, “When I brought my son he shouldn’t keep his head for six days, his neck was broken when I brought him here but when we started giving him food after a week of my coming here he started sitting by himself.
“Today is my third time of being here. The first time I came here he had a bent neck, it was so bad that even when I back him I had to look for another wrapper to tie his neck.
“Am really grateful now, am really happy. He is 2 years old, I was not informed of his weight but now I can feel the difference by just backing him. When I back him before it felt like rag but now I feel his weight. When I brought him everyone was afraid that he might not make it, even you can see that by the grace of God he is fine now.”
Alhassan Yahaya, chairman of Civil Society Media Advocacy, while sensitizing the clients, parents who came with their children in hausa language, said parents and government across all levels must work towards protecting children, especially those under 5 years who are susceptible to Severe Acute Malnutrition.
“We need to protect our children against malnutrition. Malnutrition is something that has affected the whole world including Nigeria but the truth is if we want to get rid of malnutrition, since it is present here there must be a collective effort.
“We need to keep our homes clean. Secondly this food that is given to our children will not be available forever. We must improvise. Our farm produce like soya beans, grandnuts, millet, and Guinea corn are the same things used in making the food given to us and every woman’s husband is a farmer but why don’t we use this our farm produce in order to take care of our children?
“The parents are the first people with the obligation of taking care of the child and not the government. This food will not be available all the time in fact we don’t have it presently in Gombe and they transport it into Gombe. If this one finish we must improvise with body building food that we produce. The second challenge is cleanliness just as I mentioned earlier, if we don’t keep our environment there is no way we can get rid of malnutrition.
“it is important to give birth but it is also crucial to pay attention to exclusive breast feeding. If we don’t pay attention to exclusive breast feeding there is no way a child will be free from Free from Diarrhoea, fever and what have you. The most important thing is exclusive breast feeding, don’t give any water. God has blessed women with a special breast, the milk consists of 78 nutrients, water fetched with the jar and given the child there is no assurance that the water is clean but the breast milk is different. Whoever has a child suffering from diarrhoea is because of lack of exclusive breast feeding. If every woman will opt for exclusive breast feeding I assure you that her child will never suffer from diarrhoea and will definitely protect her child from many diseases.
“Let us help the government because the amount of money spent on buying RUTF is in millions. But if this food finish, chances are there Malnourished children will be back to the way they were, and if you don’t want that to happen feed them.”
