Kisumu County Department of Health and Sanitation in partnership with other Nutrition Sensitive and Nutrition Specific Sectors have developed Kisumu County Nutrition Action Plan (KCNAP) 2012-2023.
Kisumu County Nutritionist Coordinator Rael Mwando, speaking during an event to disseminate the KCNAP, in Kisumu West, emphasized the need for good nutrition among both adults and children saying it is a recipe for good health in general and prevents stunted growth.
“Good nutrition is essential irrespective of age. Stunting is irreversible at an advanced age,” she stated.
“Nutrition has a direct relationship with child survival, physical and mental growth, learning capacity and mental productivity and overall social and economic development,” added Mwando.
The coordinator also argued that the high number of malnutrition in the country has constrained Kenya from achieving her development agenda.
On her part, Kisumu governor’s wife, Dorothy Nyong’o appreciated efforts by USAID-Save the Children who partnered to make the initiative a reality and vowed to do her best to ensure good healthy living for Kisumu residents.
Mrs Nyong’o raised concern on how mothers nurture their young ones in their formative days as she regretted that failure to sensitise them on matters of nutrition might bring a big loss.
“Mothers need to focus on their newborn babies during their first 1, 000 days,” she noted.
The plan document was also shared with all the seven sub-counties in Kisumu County for inputs and outputs and is expected to help the department attain equitable, affordable, accessible, and quality nutrition services for the residents of Kisumu County by 2030.
Health Ag. CECM Dr Gregory Ganda added that the move was important, as it would provide a head organ that would examine the indicators on a quarterly basis besides helping prevent the illnesses before they get out of hand.
He also led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding towards the multi-sectoral nutrition approach among departmental leadership of Health, Education, and Agriculture.
In Kisumu County, according to Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2014, out of 158, 039 children under 5 years, 28, 447 are stunted, 9, 482 are overweight and 11, 063 are underweight.
The Multi-sectoral meeting was attended by county leadership from the Agriculture, Education departments, representatives from Social Protection and Maseno University. The initiative is supported by USAID-Save The Children.
By Peter K’opiyo and Francis Ochieng
