BUJUMBURA January 25th (ABP) – People concerned with the mapping work of nutrition interventions are expected to become involved and facilitate data collection. The appeal was launched on Tuesday in Bujumbura by Mr. Ernest Niyokindi, deputy chief of cabinet in the 2nd vice-Presidency of the Republic and focal point SUN (Scaling up nutrition) at the end of a two-day workshop to launch stakeholder mapping and nutrition interventions.
The technicians who will do the mapping exercise were asked to do the identification and the data collection of the speakers and interventions. He reassured them that he will remain by their side and will provide them with all the assistance necessary to accomplish that task.
Mr. Niyokindi also thanked the donors who accompanied Burundi in that enterprise including UN-NetWork. He recalled that the mapping exercise will be beneficial for Burundi and that it will allow the Burundian government to have a clear idea of who is doing what, where, when and how in the field and to know the state of progress in the fight against undernutrition. Mapping will also enable to know areas requiring institutional intervention efforts, as well as knowing precisely which area or region to target potential responders and which interventions need to be addressed.
According to Elisabeth Zanou of UNICEF office in Burundi, the mapping exercise in the nutrition sector is a very important process that has just started in Burundi. Interventions have been taking place in the field for several years, but the 2017 Demographic and Health Survey (EDS2017) conducted by ISTEEBU showed that there is still much to be done. “Once finalized, this mapping exercise will allow us to review our interventions in order to hope to influence the prevalence of undernutrition in Burundi,” she said.
She invited everyone to really participate in the data collection, to provide the data available to the technical team that will pass for the collection, in order to have reliable data as well as a reliable and realistic mapping.
Thanks were given to UN-NetWork for its technical support, by hoping that the support will continue. As the nutrition problem is multifactorial, the response is multisectoral, according to Dr Célestin Sibomana, advisor in charge of the health sector at the 2nd Deputy-President Office. The global SUN movement to which Burundi has subscribed will help it to focus efforts and direct them towards a common fight against undernutrition. In that way, Burundi will have a map that shows all the actors involved in nutrition, technical partners, funding agencies, catalysts, stakeholders at the sectoral level, different Ministries, local organizations with what they do and in which region, in order to have good results in nutrition and food security, said Dr Sibomana. According to him, all regions of the country are affected by undernutrition to varying degrees and especially in rural areas and interventions are effectively focused in areas by priority.
Among the actions carried out in the fight against undernutrition, the speakers mentioned in particular the feeding of the infant and the young child, the prevention of the diseases by the food of supplements with the children aged six to 24 months, the deworming for the children from 12 to 59 months, five to 14 years and pregnant women. Other interventions identified included the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLITMNs) to households and the intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) for pregnant women.
In the sector of water, hygiene and sanitation (WHS), Tip Tap is set up for households that do not have a place for handwashing and of a promotion of hygiene practices is set up for all people. Vitamin A supplementation is for children aged six to 59 months. It was also noted the management of moderate acute undernutrition, the promotion and strengthening of food security through the training and distribution of livestock to agri-breeders, including school canteens, the promotion of family planning for women aged 15 to 49 years.
Actions are also taking place in the sector of arranging the productive capital (watersheds, marshes). Nutrition education activities targeting mothers of children under five, screening for malnutrition of children under five as well as the growth follow up and promotion (monthly weighing) were also conducted.