The burden of malnutrition in the capital city is rising, experts have warned.
They are worried about overweight (obesity), underweight (stunting and wasting) and micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger).
Nairobi subcounty nutrition coordinator Diana Muriithi has warned of the increasing cases of malnutrition of children under the age of five in Nairobi.
She said the number of reported cases of malnutrition is increasing and that new admissions are reported every month.
Miriithi urged mothers of under fives to give their children micronutrients in order to fight malnutrition.
“The micronutrient powder sachets can be accessed at any chemist near you at Sh10. It is recommended that one sachet per child per day to help address malnutrition,” she said.
Muriithi said multiple nutrients, minerals and vitamins are given to children from six months up to five years.
“This is because for the first six months it is exclusive breastfeeding, then after six months mothers do the complementary feeding. This is the time we are able to enrich the child's food with the micronutrient powders. We give a share per day per child, in a small amount of food,” Muriithi said.
She spoke to the media during a meeting on nutrition organised by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) under the Catalyzing Strengthened Policy Action for Healthy Diets and Resilience (CASCADE) project.
CASCADE project seeks to increase access to and consumption of healthy diets to households in Nairobi, Nyandarua and Nakuru counties.
Charles Opiyo, head of policy and advocacy at GAIN, said childhood malnutrition results in reduced productivity, high costs of health-related treatment of malnutrition, and high education costs due to class repetition and absenteeism.
“GAIN through the CASCADE project is advocating for the improved implementation of nutrition-related policies. In addition to strengthening the capacities of nutrition-related policy makers and delivery systems. This is aimed at improving access to healthier diets for improved nutrition," Opiyo said.
He added that GAIN is supporting the Nairobi City county government to take stock of its nutrition interventions through a midterm review of the County Nutrition Action Plan.
According to the Kenya Demographic Survey, malnutrition rates in Nairobi county are at about 5.6 per cent, which is about 70,000.
Muriithi said in October, about 1,000 new admissions of children were identified to have malnutrition.
“This number is only for those we are able to identify. We have those within the communities that have not been identified. These new numbers are adding up to those who are already enrolled into the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) Programme,” she said.
Muriithi added that the increasing number is now becoming strenuous for the health system. This is because it is cheaper to prevent a child from getting malnutrition, as opposed to treating a child who is already malnourished.
“We had 1,000 new admissions but in total, there were 3,000 cases in that month. The children stay in the program for three to four months so accumulatively, we have a high case of children with malnutrition who are in the programme and this comes with cost,” said Muriithi.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Standards 2019 shows that Nairobi county has a population of about 4.39 million.
The nutritionist noted that 60 per cent of the population lives in urban slums and are disadvantaged due to lack of adequate resources. They are more prone to issues of malnutrition and sanitation. Some of the major slums in the county include Kibera, Korogocho, Mukuru and Luandani among others.
Muriithi pointed out that Nairobi county has over 500,000 children who are under five years old.
She said this age group is a target population and a point of interest because they are at a higher risk of getting malnutrition.
“We have support for the severe acute malnutrition cases from UNICEF. We enrol the children in a programme for maximum of three months. They are provided with the ready to use therapeutic feed which is given depending on their weight and then we monitor their weight on a weekly basis until they are able to recover from being severe to the moderate,” Muriithi said.
“The reported cases are from across the country and not just from the informal areas. We get the reports from hospitals across the county, and not only in the informal settlements,” she said.
She warned that the cases may continue rising due to the high cost of living and the dwindling incomes which has forced families to use coping mechanisms.
“We are now having a reduced number of meals or reduced amounts of quantities of food per meal. This may end up having a negative impact on the children in the long run. As we continue with the coping strategies of the households, the number of children who are malnourished will be on the increase,” she said.
Muriithi said the county is offering health education to the community and encouraging them to work with the little income they have and buy cheap food.
For instance, you can have cereals, vegetables as opposed to buying processed expensive food.
“We are talking about working around the household budget and making sure it goes a long way to buy cheap, nutritious and readily available food for the family," Muriithi said.
"We need to see how best we can be able to work in the economic status and situation that we are in and be able to provide balanced food more so to the under-five children,” she added.
