Overcoming Childhood Malnutrition
1 in 3 children under the age of 5 are malnourished in Sierra Leone (WHO, 2015), leaving these children critically ill and in many cases leads to death.
Childhood malnutrition program, Positive Deviance Hearth, piloted in 2 rural villages in March, 2019. 33 children under the age of 5 were identified identified as malnourished.
The aim of the program is to reduce childhood malnutrition by providing community knowledge and trainings, using local resources. Funded by RHCI, the program training lasts 2 weeks, and continues with monthly monitoring.
Initial screenings are done by trained Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Nutritionists to identify the scale of malnutrition. This is done by measuring the Mid Upper Arm Circumference and weighings.
Immediate rehabilitation is given to the malnourished children with vaccinations, deworming, and vitamins.
Eager for their children to live healthy lives, caregivers learn food preparation, feeding techniques, and proper sanitation/hygiene.
Caregivers are trained to prepare locally sourced meals that they currently use, and adding additional nutrients and protein. Meals include:
Plumpy nut (groundnut paste, sugar, folate, zinc, oil), Benny mix (flour, benny, fish powder, groundnut), sweet potatoes, boiled eggs, mashed plantains, and fruits during training sessions.
Prior to the program, the feeding schedule for most of the identified malnourished children was limited to once in the evening. Using their own hands, the children typically fed themselves with what they could chew. Trainings on the importance of frequent feedings and preparing softening foods are taught by the CHWs and Nutritionists.
Often overlooked, proper hand washing, dish cleaning and even drying of clothes in a hygienic way, are common results of diseases such as Cholera. A grateful caregiver states, “Hygiene practices emphasized during the program have prevented our community from having Cholera this year. Normally our community is prone to Cholera. There are now bylaws against drying children’s clothes on the floor in prevention”.
Initially identifying 33 malnourished children from the 2 villages, thanks to the Positive Deviance Hearth program, 29 of these children are now well nourished. The remaining 4 were hospitalized and provided a months worth of meals and medications upon release.
Healthy children, excited to chant PD Hearth!
Caregiver with her healthy child says, “We now know how to select food for our children”. Another mother says, “Thank God for our child’s weight improvement. Fathers are not ashamed to hold their children now”.
With continuous support, Positive Deviance Hearth can be expanded into more villages and save more children from childhood malnutrition.
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