The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has pledged its support for Kaduna state government’s integration of HIV services with nutrition programmes for improved outcome.
UNICEF Kaduna Nutrition Specialist, Mrs Chinwe Ezeife, made this known in Kaduna on Saturday, during the training of 60 health workers, on integration of paediatric HIV counselling and testing with Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programme.
Addressing the training, which was organised in collaboration with the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency, via teleconference, Chinwe said HIV and malnutrition interact in complex ways that heighten vulnerability and worsen severity of each condition in a child.
She said HIV infection in a malnourished child reduce the chances of the child’s survival if quick interventions were not carried out.
She also spoke of the need for proper integration of HIV services into the treatment of malnourished children and their caregivers for improved outcome.
According to Ezeife, “UNICEF and the state PHCDA have sensitised relevant stakeholders on the relationships between HIV and malnutrition, and improved coordination and integration of HIV and nutrition services at Local Government Areas and facility levels.
“Malnutrition like HIV is a known cause of reduced immunity in individuals, which serves as a window for manifestation of various infections. This is particularly worse in infants and young children whose body immune cells are yet to gain full maturity, prompting the need to integrate HIV testing into nutrition programme.
“CMAM is being implemented in 14 LGAs in Kaduna state, while treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition was ongoing in 77 health facilities.
“Available data showed that non-recovery rates among severe and acute malnourished children in the CMAM sites fluctuates between 1.2 per cent and 4.0 per cent. This training was triggered by this poor non-recovery rate.”
She said the training is “to ensure that every child living with HIV is diagnosed early and placed on treatment to avert complications of untreated HIV and attendant mortality.
“The training is aimed at equipping health workers with skills, knowledge and practice to provide HIV testing services to severely malnourished children with high index of suspicion of HIV infection that have stayed in CMAM programme for over four weeks and failed to gain significant weight.”
The state Nutrition Officer, Mrs Ramatu Musa, said the training was the third capacity building conducted for health workers around convergence of services in health facilities in recent time.
She said that a total of 64 health workers were trained in the first and second sessions to ensure the integration of services like immunisation, nutrition and child spacing for mothers, among others.
“This training of additional 60 health workers will strongly strengthen the synergy of HIV services and nutrition programme and provide a holistic approach to management of child malnutrition,” Musa added.
