Africa-Press – Gambia. Forty nurses are currently attending a four-day training onthe Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM)programme.
The training, underway at Mansa Wally Lodge in Jenoi of Lower River Region, brought together nurses from district hospitals, community health installations and general hospitals and is being organized by the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) and Ministry of Health.
The training, which aims to help in the effective management, care and treatment of malnourished children, is bankrolled by UNICEF.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the NaNA Nutrition Field Coordinator, Fabakary Bass, urged participants to immerse themselves in the training so that they can emerge better-equipped and knowledgeable at the end of the four-day engagement.
Mr. Bass emphasized the need for nurses to be adequately knowledgeable on issues around the care, treatment and management of acutely malnourished children at both health facility and community levels.
He thanked UNICEF for their support and partnership in strengthening the capacity of health staff on the protection of children against malnutrition.
The NaNA field coordinator explained that most community health nurses have been deployed on the ground to complement the efforts of the health ministry in promoting nutritional development for children under five.
Bass further explained that community health nurses facilitate the close monitoring of the health of vulnerable children as well as ease pressure for referrals as health centres rely heavily on them.
He pointed out that the expected outcome of the training is to ensure the accessibility of services and the creation of linkages with the service providers.
The Nutrition Officer at UNICEF, Mr Bakary Dampha, highlighted the significance of the training in addressing some of the capacity constraints at community healthcare service administration centres and the empowerment of nurses for the provision of necessary support to malnourished children. The training, he said, is important as it would refresh the understanding and widen the scope of other participants in ensuring that children have adequate care, management and treatment at both at hospital and health centre levels.
He expressed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting the health ministry and NaNA through the delivery of material resources to help communities assume vanguard roles in the campaign, monitoring and reporting of nutritional status of children.
The Head of the Malnutrition Unit at Serre Health Centre, Adama Jallow, disclosed that the centre is currently providing nutritional support, care and treatment for 26 children, adding that the conditions of the children have been stabilized and were responding to treatment.
She appealed for more training opportunities for nurses foreffective management of acutely malnourished children.
The Nutrition Health Coordinator at the Basse-based Centre for Nutrition Recovery and Education otherwise known as Nutrition Without Borders, Omar Baldeh, said the centre focuses on the rehabilitation of malnourished children, noting that the four-day training would strengthenparticipants’ understanding and awareness of the protection of malnutrition.
He thanked NaNA and UNICEF for the training and monitoring of nutrition activities in the country.
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