Alive & Thrive trains Stakeholders on MMS Implementation, Planning, Coordination in Kaduna
By:Femi Mustapha
In a bid to improve maternal and child nutrition and reduce Anaemia among pregnant women and adolescent girls in Kaduna State, the Alive & Thrive initiative organised a comprehensive 1-Day Project Implementation, Planning, and, Coordination Meeting on Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) in Kaduna yesterday
The training, which took place in the state capital, brought together stakeholders comprising Monitoring and Evaluation Officers, Social Mobilisation Officers, and Nutrition Focal Persons from the 23 Local Government Areas of the State.
The participants were eager to learn about the benefits and administration of MMS, a crucial intervention aimed at reducing micronutrient deficiencies among pregnant women and their children.
The training began with the Assistant State Nutrition Officer for Kaduna State Blessings Maikano presenting the objectives of the meeting, which included ensuring that all project activities, tasks, and efforts were aligned and harmonized to achieve common goals effectively and efficiently.
She added that it is also organized to orient stakeholders on MMS implementation in Kaduna State and provide them with an overview of A&T’s role in the MMS implementation.
The third objective, according to her, is to foster a shared understanding of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in the implementation of MMS intervention in the state.
Speaking on the Key Achievements Alive and Thrive in Scaling Up MMS in Kaduna State, Mrs Sarah Didi Kwasu said that her organization Supported a 2-day orientation for Nutrition Focal Persons (NFPs) on MMS.
” Conducted a one-day training on MMS Community Mobilization Awareness/Demand Creation for State Health Educators, Community Engagement Focal Persons, and CBOs.
“Supported the State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN) Quarterly Meeting, sensitizing stakeholders on MMS for enhanced collaboration and coordination.”
Similarly, Mr Olumide Faleke the Senior Technical Adviser/ Leading Community Mobilisation and Interpersonal communication of A&T Abuja disclosed that Since 2023, divulged that activities have been scaled down to focus on four demonstration states: Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, and Lagos—which are Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) priority states for MMS scale-up.
Activities in these states, he explained, have been refocused to prioritize MMS within the broader project mandate.
He gave the Scope for MMS Rollout to include Policy and Regulations:Policy documents and guidelines, Landscape analysis, Financing:Advocacy initiatives, Inclusion in state plans and Budgets, Service Delivery:Capacity building for health workers, SBC strategy to promote MMS uptake, Demand creation for MMS.
Mr Faleke stressed that other areas include Monitoring and Evaluation and Technical support to the government for integrating key indicators into the National Health Management Information System (NHMIS) Coordination and Collaboration Across Partner
In her remarks, the State Nutrition Officer (SNO) Ramatu Musa Haruna expressed delight over the opportunity given by A&T to the participants to scale up their training in the MMS Supplementation.
She added that this will go a long way in fighting anemia in the state because more pregnant women are now enlightened on the health benefits of MMS
She opined that MMS is going to be an avenue to draw or create health-seeking behavior in pregnant women when they realize that it contains more nutrients than the IFAS MMS contains at least fifteen different nutrients but the IFAS is only Iron and the folic
She therefore advised the Nutrition Focal Persons (NFPs) and other participants not to take the training for granted because it is an opportunity given them to learn all about MMS and its benefits.
The Nutrition Specialist of UNICEF, Kaduna field office, Chinwe Ezeife, said MMS is the best for Pregnant women and Adolescent girls to reduce Anaemia.
“You find out that it contributes a lot in the reduction of anemia in pregnancy and the invariable anemia in children and it also supports reduction in low birth weight of Children
“Kaduna State is one of the five states that has piloted the scaling up of mms through health facilities
The participants here today are key players and they are drawn from 23 local government areas comprising of nutrition vocal persons and LGA, M&E, officers
“The essence of this is also for nutrition focal persons to get back in, turn to liaise with their various LGA secretaries of each of the LGA departments to see that through the ward focal persons and officers in charge of 255 health facilities that MMS are properly integrated especially through the anti-natal health care services
“We all appreciate the important rule the LGA Mand E officers play in this initiative
“They are to see that appropriate documentation, data capturing, and reporting, including sharing the report with key stakeholders, happens.
“The very important aspect of this program is to see that the target beneficiaries are receiving the supplies
She praised A&T for organizing the program, saying as a subgrantee for BMGF, they are doing great work.”She said
The Acting Director of Family and Community Health services in the State Primary Health Care Board, Habiba Ahmed Aliyu today is planning a meeting and co-creation meeting for all my staff including the M,& E officer, Nutritions focal persons, social mobilization officers
She harped that MMS is one of the State’s key intervention activities for undernutrition and it is their mandate to implement all the activities within nutrition intervention
Hajiya Habiba disclosed that the State wants to improve maternal and child outcomes through the support of nutrition
“So with the partner’s support, we are very glad to have in Kaduna this number of micronutrient supplementation for our pregnant women
“I believe with all the contents in MMS the health of the baby will be improved and the mother’s uterus
“I believe even if she delivers, during the postpartum period the mother will look very healthy and will have adequate nutrients in their body that can support them to breastfeed their baby
“We encourage women to breastfeed the baby from day one to six months without giving them water or anything, we call that exclusive breastfeeding
“I believe that with this training or planning meeting, we are on the right path to get things done in our fight against malnutrition and anemia
“We are going to train our health care providers so they will get more information on MMS,” She said
