By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Malnutrition is also a major concern in Sierra Leone, and health officials, who are busy exploring solutions to rectify the situation, say it is a worrying problem.
The status of malnutrition is closely linked with the Ebola eradication campaign in the country as health officials have always made it clear that the capacity of a person’s immune system to ward off viral or bacterial invasion of their system is contingent on their nutritional status.
In a bid to ensure that malnutrition is effectively contained in the country, Sierra Leone has signed up its membership with Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement which is an inter-governmental organisation comprising 56 countries and focuses mainly on the eradication of malnutrition.
The SUN movement was established in 2010 based on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition. The movement has united governments and civil society organisations, as well as the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers in a collective effort to improve nutrition.
Health officials have also confirmed that malnutrition has multiple causes, underscoring the need for people to work together across issues and sectors to put nutrition into all development efforts.
Sierra Leone being a member of the SUN movement launched the SUN initiative on October 2, 2012 in Freetown, under the office of the Vice President. This, according to the government, demonstrates the high political commitment towards the issue.
Sierra Leone’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brima Kargbo, on the eve of the Ebola outbreak, warned that people should have access to good food and nutrition so that their antibodies would be alert to fight back any disease that entered their system.
SUN technical officer, Bernadette Allieu, said malnutrition was not only limited to underfeeding but also overfeeding, which often result to obesity. Figures released by the indicates that over 165 million under-five children in the world were malnourished, 52 million were thin, and 45 million overweight.
According to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), children were more vulnerable to malnutrition than adults. The MoHS figures revealed the following situation in Sierra Leone: 28.8% of children under the age of five were stunted, 12.9% were underweight, and 4.7% wasted. These figures show that the country exhibits higher rates of child stunting, but they also relatively show reduction in malnutrition rates within two years, which they claim is not unconnected to efforts by the multi-sectoral approach.
The success generated by this multi-sectoral approach is a clear manifestation that tackling the challenge of malnutrition requires integrated approaches.
A document titled: ‘Scaling Up Nutrition,’ dated 9th June 2015, authored by Dr Mohamed Foh, National Coordinator, Scaling Up Nutrition Movement – Sierra Leone, has also shown that lack of access to good food, poor water and sanitation, inadequate maternal and child care practices, as well as inadequate health services were the main causes of malnutrition which has a direct impact on the Ebola fight.
“Poor nutrition can quicken the progression of the Ebola virus disease. Those with access to better nutrition are more able to fight the disease,” a portion of the document reads.
Director of Food and Nutrition in the MoHS, Aminata Koroma, told Politico that the food and nutrition plan had been in existence since 2009, before the SUN movement was launched a year later. The plan has an expanded programme lasting 2013 to 2014.
If properly implemented, the plan will put the SUN secretariat in a better position to track down effort mobilised by each government ministry, department and agency to end malnutrition in the country.
As all these non-communicable diseases are on the increase in the country, Ms Koroma says it would be prudent for the country to embark on an effective institutional surveillance system to monitor the nutrition situation in the country.
Undertaking quality research and the establishment of knowledge platforms has also been identified by the MoHS as one of the surest ways of combating malnutrition in the country.
“If we are able to do all these things, we can overcome malnutrition. A healthy nation is a wealth nation,”adds Koroma.
The Irish Aid in Sierra Leone has been very instrumental in supporting the health system in Sierra Leone especially during the Ebola outbreak. Programmes Officer for Irish Aid, Paul Gibrilla Kargbo, said providing technical and material support towards the eradication of malnutrition in the country had been at the centre of the Irish government`s plan for the country. The support offered by the Irish Government to the MoHS to end malnutrition is informed by a similar situation faced by the Irish when their country was plagued by malnutrition.
“We are the biggest supporter of MoHS nutrition programmes,” Kargbo said.
However, the support provided by the Irish government to such programmes was cut short when the Ebola virus broke out in the country in May 25.
Malnutriton in Sierra Leone is seen not only as a threat to life but also a serious problem to the country’s fragile economy.
Sierra Leone`s opportunities to end malnutrition remain contingent on the potentials and the will of the medical experts and policy makers to move the process forward. It is also anchored on the formulation of new policies and the implementation of existing ones backed up with the collaborative efforts of both development partners and the Serra Leone government.
It would also be a good step for the Food and Nutrition Security Implementation Plan to roll over into the medium up to the long term period in the post Ebola Sierra Leone.
All these commitment made by the government and senior health officials would come to fruition only when communication is made as an integral part of the process.
The importance of the press to the successful implementation of the nutrition policies has been mentioned several times by the MoHS Nutrition Director, Aminata Koroma, as well as the Programmes officer for Irish Aid,Paul Gibrilla Kargbo who identified Behaviour Change Communication as the best answer to the eradication of malnutrition from the country, thereby contributing to the Ebola fight.
(C) Politico 11/08/15
