Over 100,000 children in Murang’a County are set to benefit from vitamin A supplementation as the department of health observes Malezi Bora activities across the county.
The County Nutrition Officer, Nancy Waitherero, speaking during the County Nutrition Technical Forum, explained that Malezi Bora is a bi-annual programme that advocates for better health and nutrition for mothers and their children and includes high-impact interventions such as high-dose vitamin A supplementation and deworming of children under 5 years.
This month, Murang’a County is targeting 100274 children in the region for vitamin A supplementation and 88339 for deworming.
“Malezi Bora focuses on preventive health services for mother and child, and the activities usually take place twice a year in May to June and October to November.” She explained
The Nutrition Coordinator said that Malezi Bora starts from pre-conception by encouraging women to visit health facilities for eight prenatal clinics, to take iron-folic acid supplements throughout the pregnancy, and to ensure they deliver in a health facility.
“After the birth of a child, we advocate for exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, followed by timely, adequate complementary feeding, and continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond.” Waitherero said.
She noted that Malezi Bora has had a big impact because the outreaches to Early Childhood Development Education centres (ECDE) and households play a major role in improving the coverage of Vitamin A and deworming among children below five years.
“We will be giving Vitamin A to all children aged between six months and five years to boost their immunity and deworming tablets to all children aged 12-59 months to prevent worm infestation,” she explained.
“For children below one year old between January and April, only about 49 per cent had been given Vitamin A in the health facilities, while the remaining 51 per cent will need to be reached through the initiative,” she added.
Vitamin A boosts a child’s immune system, helping them fight common infections and reducing their risk of sickness.
Waitherero said that they would also be screening all children aged six to 59 months for acute malnutrition, and they would refer any cases of malnutrition for treatment.
Creating awareness about the consumption of vitamin A-rich foods that are locally available is done throughout the year by health workers and community health promoters (CHPs).
The activity brings together County and sub-county nutritionists, front-line health care providers, community health promoters (CHPs), and partners in health like Nutrition International.
By Anita Omwenga and Purity Mugo
