Nutrition rehabilitation complex for Nkwanta
A $500,000 nutrition rehabilitation complex has been inaugurated at the Nkwanta South District (NSD) Hospital in the Volta Region.
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The complex will provide substantial support in the management of acute malnutrition and bring to fruition in the district, the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programme which has been stalled by inadequate logistics.
Sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the facility is expected to address the comparatively higher rates of malnutrition among children in the district, compared to other parts of the region.
Landmark project
At the inauguration of the facility, the Volta Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Joseph Teye Nuertey, described the project as a “landmark”, in view of the inability to fully implement the CMAM programme in all the districts of the region.
That failure, he said, was due primarily to inadequate logistics such as plumpy nut and prescribed milk-based foods.
The logistical constraints, he said, had led to the programme being implemented in only four out of the 25 districts of the region.
Deceitful statistics
He said statistics on malnutrition in the region showed a decline in cases; from 1,649 in 2013 to 1,080 in 2014.
“In terms of mortality, 14 deaths were reported in 2014, compared to 21 in the previous year. This two-year trend thus seeks to give the impression that malnutrition cases are on the decline in the region, but in reality, the opposite is the case,” he said.
Dr Nuertey said there were more cases in the communities than were seen in the health facilities, add a good number of mothers were not reporting to health facilities with their children due to financial constraints.
He said beyond the setting up of the nutrition rehabilitation centres, regular home visits and outreach activities in the communities by health personnel was the surest way of stemming the tide of malnutrition in society.
“Home visits and outreaches help in the early detection of cases for action and thereby reduce the prevalence of the severe forms of malnutrition,” he added.
Role of community health nurses
The Deputy Missions Director of USAID, Mr Andy Karas, said the partnership between Ghana and the USA had worked to end preventable childhood deaths due to poor nutrition in the district.
The district, he said, suffered from a disproportionate rate of stunted and underweight children and its rates were higher than the rest of the region because of the district’s remote location.
The Medical Superintendent of the Nkwanta South District Hospital, Dr Daniel Acorlor, said with the establishment of the centre, the health needs of malnourished people would be monitored by the appropriate authorities.
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