scholarly journals Exploring opportunities to enhance effectiveness of mobile health and nutrition strategy for providing health and nutrition services amongst pastoralists in Somali region, Ethiopia

Author(s):  
Olusola Oladeji ◽  
Bibilola Oladeji ◽  
Mohamed Diaaeldin Omer ◽  
Abdifatah Elmi Farah ◽  
Ida M. Ameda ◽  
...  

Background: The health system in Ethiopia’s Somali Region is weak with limited number of health facilities with more than 60% of the population living more than 5 km to the nearest health facilities. The deployment of mobile health and nutrition teams has played critical role in providing essential health and nutrition services.Aim: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the mobile health and nutrition strategy in providing health and nutrition services in the targeted woredas (districts).Setting: Somali Region of Ethiopia.Methods: The study was a retrospective chart review of the monthly mobile health and nutrition team and the static health facilities in the 29 woredas between April 2019 and March 2020 and the AccessMod analyses for geographical accessibility to health facilities in the region.Results: 40 (40.4%) out of the 99 woredas in Somali regions have at least 80% of the population living more than 5 km from the nearest health facility out of which 18 (45%) woredas are currently being supported by the mobile health team. The mobile team contributed to increasing access to health services in the targeted woredas with 30.8% of the total children vaccinated for measles and 39% of the total children treated for severe acute malnutrition in the targeted 29 woredas.Conclusion: With mobile health and nutrition strategy being recognised as a useful strategy to deliver health and nutrition services in the region, there is a need to explore opportunities and innovation to enhance the effectiveness of the implementation.

Gut ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. gutjnl-2020-323609
Author(s):  
Alex J Thompson ◽  
Claire D Bourke ◽  
Ruairi C Robertson ◽  
Nirupama Shivakumar ◽  
Christine A Edwards ◽  
...  

Gut function remains largely underinvestigated in undernutrition, despite its critical role in essential nutrient digestion, absorption and assimilation. In areas of high enteropathogen burden, alterations in gut barrier function and subsequent inflammatory effects are observable but remain poorly characterised. Environmental enteropathy (EE)—a condition that affects both gut morphology and function and is characterised by blunted villi, inflammation and increased permeability—is thought to play a role in impaired linear growth (stunting) and severe acute malnutrition. However, the lack of tools to quantitatively characterise gut functional capacity has hampered both our understanding of gut pathogenesis in undernutrition and evaluation of gut-targeted therapies to accelerate nutritional recovery. Here we survey the technology landscape for potential solutions to improve assessment of gut function, focussing on devices that could be deployed at point-of-care in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We assess the potential for technological innovation to assess gut morphology, function, barrier integrity and immune response in undernutrition, and highlight the approaches that are currently most suitable for deployment and development. This article focuses on EE and undernutrition in LMICs, but many of these technologies may also become useful in monitoring of other gut pathologies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Fayza Rani

Background and Introduction: An increasing number of deaths have accused at Tharparkar desert region of Sindh. Hence, a nutrition relief camp was set up at two remote villages named Haryar and Bhorilo. Visiting team consisted of nutritionists, dietitians, pediatricians and logistic support providers. Objective: To determine the prevalence of malnutrition among children (0-10 yrs) and its association with their living conditions. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted. Mothers with children aged 1 month to 10 years were invited to visit the camp.200 children were screened for malnutrition using anthropometric measurements including height, weight and Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC). Dietary intake data was    collected from mother including information about feeding practices, vaccination, disease history, and living conditions. Data was analyzed through SPSS 17. Inc using descriptive statistics. Results: Out of 200 children, 191 questionnaires were     completed. Mean age was 3.6 ± 2.8 SD years. There were 101(52.9%) males and 90(47%) females. Results showed that 42.4 % (n=81) were affected by severe    malnutrition (lower than 3rd percentile). Children less than 5 years were severely wasted as per WHO diagnostic criteria for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) as   indicated by 79(51%) children had a z score of -4 SD (for height & weight). Further analysis of children under 5 years into the mild acute (≤13.5 cm), moderate Acute (11.5-12.5 cm) and severe acute malnutrition (<11.5 cm) was carried out. The data demonstrated that 33.7 % (n=32) children had mild malnutrition, 37.7 % (n=58)  suffered from moderate malnutrition and 15 % (n=23) had severe malnutrition. Food intake includes roti (Pakistani bread) and chatni (green chilies paste). There was no consumption of fruit, vegetable and milk due to no availability. Infants were breast fed and vaccinated but inappropriate and delayed weaning practices were reported by the mothers. Nearest medical facility/hospital was located at a distance of 15-30 miles. Conclusion: Major non nutrition related factors found to be contributing towards malnutrition were lack of education, water scarcity, non-availability of food, drinking water and lack of basic health facilities. There should be a provision of basic health facilities at community level. Health education and nutrition counseling should be included in their basic health initiatives.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdifatah Elmi Farah ◽  
Abdulahi Haji Abas ◽  
Ahmed Tahir Ahmed

Abstract Background There is high burden of malnutrition worldwide, including wasting that is compromising growth and development of children and nations. In Ethiopia, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) remains a public health problem. Prevalence of acute malnutrition i.e. wasting is highest (22.7%), (17.5 %) in Somali region of Ethiopia. This study assessed the bottlenecks and met needs for SAM treatment coverage in Doolo zone Somali regional state of Ethiopia. Methods This study used Tanahashi model of service coverage to identify bottlenecks for SAM treatment coverage at health facility platform using multi-stage sampling in Doolo zone, Somali regional state of Ethiopia. T racer interventions were selected to make the analysis more manageable and systematic. The collected data were entered in to excel then thoroughly cleaned and analysed. Indicators for supply-side, demand and quality were calculated. The shortest bar of the graph was considered as a bottleneck for supply-side while sharp decline or drop-in between one bar of the graph to the next was considered as a bottleneck in demand and quality sides. Performance thresholds were set for the indicators as (Good, fair and poor) and met need for SAM was then calculated.ResultThe analysis identified bottlenecks across the six determinants of coverage for the treatment of SAM. Major supply-side bottlenecks identified were commodity stock-outs, mainly ready to use therapeutic foods (RUTF) and shortage of trained health extension workers in three of the four districts studied. On the demand side, despite reasonable initial utilizations in most of the districts studied, there were poor continuity of services (high defaulter rate) and low quality of SAM treatment (effective coverage). The met need was lowest in Bokh district (12%) and highest in Danod district (70%). Despite average treatment coverages of 85% and above for Geladi, Warder and Danod districts, yet the met need was found to be 54%, 60% and 70% respectively which was not commensurate with average treatment coveragesConclusionThe identified bottlenecks for SAM treatment coverage cut across the supply side, demand and quality aspects. The low quality for SAM treatment could have resulted from a combination of supply and demand bottlenecks i.e. frequent stock out of basic commodities (RUTF), shortage of trained health extension workers and poor health-seeking behaviour and/or poor continuity of service or high defaulter rate). The overall met need for SAM program was found to be 37% which could imply high unmet need and poor impact of the program. It is recommended that further causality analysis be undertaken for the major bottlenecks discovered in this study to establish root causes of bottlenecks and devise appropriate solutions adapted to the local setting.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (62) ◽  
pp. 8615-8631
Author(s):  
CR Gongwer ◽  
◽  
R Aryeetey

Malnutrition among women and children is an underlying cause of high morbidity and mortality in the developing world. Ghana is one of 36 countries with a high prevalence (> 20%) of chronic stunting in childhood. Although proven and inexpensive technologies and interventions exist to address maternal and child malnutrition, their implementation remains at a low scale in many developing countries, including Ghana. In Ghana, barriers to scaling up nutrition actions have been identified at the national level, yet little is known about the situation at the district and sub-district levels where nutrition interventions are directly delivered. The current study assessed district-level capacity and commitment for accelerating implementation of effective nutrition interventions to address the high burden of maternal and child malnutrition. In June 2010, key informant interviews involving technical officers, clinicians, nurses, and administrative staff, and a desk review of program and administrative reports were conducted in the Omanye District (pseudonym). Using the framework from the WHO landscape analysis of readiness to scale up nutrition actions, interviews explored questions of commitment (financial, planning, collaborations) and capacity (human resources, job aids, skills) to implement nutrition actions in the district. Most key nutrition interventions were being implemented in the Omanye District including growth promotion, micronutrient supplementation, behavior change communication on infant and young child feeding, and a pilot project for community management of severe acute malnutrition. Interventions are challenged, however, by barriers including inadequate financial commitment, low prioritization of nutrition, inadequate personnel, and insufficient job aids. Because nutrition was relatively underfunded in the district, nutrition technical officers had been shifted to perform other or additional tasks. Insufficient investment and inadequate capacity prevents delivery of quality nutrition services in the Omanye District. Interventions that prioritize and improve investment in nutrition actions are needed to optimize nutrition services at the district level in Ghana.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document