November Nutrition Training

You are probably wondering what exactly I am doing while I am here, other than shaking hands with the president, roasting goats and fish, driving through mud pits… sometimes I ask myself the same question! In all honesty though – it has taken me a little while, and will still take some time – to figure out exactly what my role is.

A little about the CMAM (Community Management of Acute Malnutrition) project. The goal is to manage cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the community through existing health facilities. This week we trained health staff from 4 clinics to manage the OTP (outpatient therapeutic program) for uncomplicated SAM cases. After the 3 days of training, we went to each clinic to set up the site and start screening and admitting children. It went well and we admitted about 9 cases during the set up time.

The next training will be with the community health volunteers who will work at the community level to identify and refer cases of severe malnutrition. They will also be trained to share the essential nutrition action messages with caregivers in the community. The last training will be with one health facility that will treat cases of complicated SAM needing inpatient care. Hopefully more to come on these later!


Setting up and zeroing the scales during a practice session for OTP training.



The training participants, facilitators, and SP staff



First admission at Fish Town Health Center with her caregiver. I didn't get the full story, but her caregiver is her grandmother - her mother died when she was 3-4 months old. This has certainly affected her growth; she is underweight and has met the criteria for admission for severe malnutrition. She passed the appetite test and hopefully with the nutritional treatment can gain weight and stay healthy.



Screening at another facility using the MUAC tape. This little boy was admitted either for a small midarm circumference or a low weight for height. He loved me and kept trying to walk over to where I was, but his sister wailed everytime I looked in her direction!



Advantage of riding in the second land cruiser – you see what you are about to drive through; disadvantage of riding in the second land cruiser – you see what you are about to drive through. I haven’t decided which I prefer!