Over 100,000 children in Murang’a are set to benefit from Vitamin A supplements as the department of health observes Malezi Bora activities across the county.
Speaking during the County Nutrition Technical Forum, county nutrition officer Nancy Waitherero said Malezi Bora is a bi-annual programme that advocates for better health and nutrition for mothers and their children.
It includes high impact interventions such as high dosage Vitamin A supplements and deworming of children below five years.
This month, Murang’a county is targeting 100,274 children for Vitamin A supplementation and 88,339 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 said.
The Nutrition Coordinator said Malezi Bora starts from pre-conception by encouraging women to visit health facilities for eight prenatal clinics and 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 six months followed by timely adequate complementary feeding with continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond,” Waitherero said.
Malezi Bora has had a big impact because the outreaches to Early Childhood Development Education Centres play a major role in improving the coverage of Vitamin A and deworming among children below five years, she said.
“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 said.
“For children below one year, 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 reduces their risk of sickness.
Waitherero said they will also be screening all children aged six to 59 months for acute malnutrition and would refer any cases of malnutrition for treatment.
Creating awareness on consumption of Vitamin A rich foods that are locally available is done throughout the year by health workers and community health promoters.
The activity brings together county and subcounty nutritionists, front line health care providers, community health promoters and partners in health like Nutrition International.
