Africa-Press – Angola. The Provincial Council of the Order of Doctors in Cunene promoted, this Monday, a malnutrition screening campaign for children in the community of Oshamuikuio, on the outskirts of the city of Ondjiva, to identify, control and assess the level of the disease.
Data from the health office point to the registration of 1,187 cases of malnutrition with six deaths, during the first quarter of 2023.
In a statement the vice-president of the Order of Doctors in Cunene province, Eufrásina de Oliveira, said that the aim of the activity was to screen children suffering from the disease, in order to refer them to treatment.
According to the doctor, Oshamukuio is one of the main neighborhoods that has taken the largest number of children with malnutrition to the hospital, a fact that led the institution to work with the community, in order to identify, control and prevent cases of this kind, as it constitutes a of the leading causes of death in children.
During the screening, he stressed that those who present with signs of the disease will benefit from nutritional supplements ( Plumpy ‘nut ), for a period of one week and subsequent referral to outpatient malnutrition consultations.
“They are minors, children of merchants who spend the day in the market being abandoned without the necessary care”, he underlined.
Meanwhile, he referred that the campaign, in which 40 professionals are involved, encompasses a series of actions such as deworming, measurement of height, weight, education on oral hygiene care.
After the lecture, the children received oral hygiene kits and lunch.
The Provincial Council of the Order of Doctors in Cunene has 111 doctors of various nationalities and specialties.
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