The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) intervention scheme administering Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation (IFAS) to reduce anaemia prevalence is making huge impacts in Katsina state, especially among grassroot children. CHIZOBA OGBECHE reports.
Kastina state is among selected states in Nigeria used to experiment United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) intervention scheme on administering Iron -Folic Acid Supplementation (IFAS) to adolescent boys and girls to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in the country.
The project is making a huge impact in Katsina, especially among women and children living in the grassroots to have ample opportunity of accessing free medical healthcare and health knowledge weekly.
Specifically, the programme is centred on pregnant women, starting IFAS supplementation for adolescent girls and continuing into adulthood to improve girls’ iron status which reduces their susceptibility to anaemia, including their unborn children.
Available statistics by the national data survey, revealed that the state has an estimated 2,048,596 adolescents many of who become pregnant for the first time between 13 and 17 years of age and give birth to between 6-7 children in their lifetime.
However, since this project was launched in 2018 by the state governor, Aminu Bello Masari in Rimi and implemented in three LGAs namely Rimi, Kankia and Kafur as a pilot scheme, there has been no doubt that the prevalence has reduced in the state.
The programme also uses pregnant women as well as girls and boys between the ages of 10-19 as active participants in the project.
Detailed implemention
Speaking on the programme, the state coordinator, Mr Oyedokun Oluniyi, stated that recent baseline assessment on adolescent nutrition conducted in four LGAs (three intervention and one control), indicated that there is 32.18 per cent prevalence of anaemia among adolescents in intervention LGAs and 37.5 per cent prevalence in control LGA.
Explaining further how the project was monitored, he said 45 schools and 45 communities in these three LGAs were also selected for the project which is tagged Anaemia Reduction in Schools and Non-School Girls (ARISING).
He added that focal persons were assigned to coordinate the adolescents in schools while the community focal persons were coordinating the intervention for adolescents not in schools.
The coordinator said, “One of the essences of this programme is to break the generational cycle of poor health, malnutrition and looking at how to break it at every stage.
“Our goal is to reduce anaemia prevalence and other forms of malnutrition amongst adolescent boys and girls. And we are focusing on this in Katsina state.
“We have three objectives of the project which are to ensure that adolescent boys and girls whether in schools or out of schools benefit from adequate nutrition, improve their knowledge on the prevention of anaemia; sensitise them on the need to have good nutrition, and lastly to expand government’s institutions to deliver adolescent education in their school programmes.
“We are intervening in giving the iron tablet. The second one is to promote nutrition education in schools and the last one is the last long solution. So that the government can take it as a programme and even include it in their budget.”
Speaking on the successes recorded so far, the coordinator said aside the operational training manual developed and M&E data tools planned, they also formed a state nutrition strategic plan revised to incorporate adolescent nutrition.
This, he said included provision of IFAS, community involvement and participation leading to demand creation as well as engaged 45 teachers, 45 health workers and 45 community focal persons who were trained on adolescent project.
According to Oluniyi, over 200,000 adolescent boys and girls received the tablets from the 2,790,000 supplements supplied weekly to schools and communities according to the baseline assessment survey conducted
He disclosed that they were planning to scale up the project to other parts of the state notwithstanding the constraints of finance.
In order to ascertain first-hand information on the impact of the project in the state, Blueprint investigated some of the pilot schools where supplements were being administered to the adolescent children in schools and out of schools in Kankia LGA.
Eye witness accounts
Speaking with the focal person of the LGA, Binta Na’ilu, who is also the nutritionist officer in charge of Galadima Primary Healthcare said the project has made tremendous impacts in the lives of pregnant mothers as well as the early adolescent and adolescent girls and boys in the area.
The focal person stressed that the supplements administered weekly had reduced cases of anaemia stating, “Every week, we attend to over 50 pregnant women and administer them with the supplements, teach them the importance of health and well-being of their families.
“In fact, we’ve stopped experiencing cases of anaemia in pregnancy and the risk of child bearing has reduced in this place.”
While thanking UNICEF for the project, Na’ilu prayed for the continuation of the programme, even as she solicited that both the state and the federal government should see the need to support ARISING project in the state.
Also, the village head of the area, Magaji Gari, Abdulahi Hassan Sada, who also doubles as the chairman of the programme in Kankia, thanked UNICEF for the assistance given to the women and children.
He said that they were happy with the project which has increased their access to healthcare services at no cost.
Affirming that the programme has ameliorated the health complications women and children face in the community, he noted that following serious advocacy and sensitization, the people have come to understand the importance of the supplements and were now complying to the doses given to them.
He said, “On our own, we observed that the case of death and abortion among women has reduced. Our children look healthy compared to previous years. So, we want government to help us in sustaining this project.”
From the beneficiaries
Speaking with some of the beneficiaries at the GGPSS, Kankia, Maryam Dahiru and Maryam Bishir Isah, who are SS III students of the school, they said there have been a lot of changes and improvement in their health since they started taking the IFAS and the once-in-six months deworming tablet.
Also, the school’s focal person, Aminu Abdulahi, explained that they administer the IFAS every Thursday to over 1,000 students in the school, who also complied by taking the drugs except in exceptional cases where some of them complained of doing religious obligation like fasting.
He added that the school also set up UNICEF Club where students were being educated on good healthcare living even as he expressed hope that the supply of IFAS to the school would continue as they would also not relent in cultivating vegetable farm for adequate nutritional meals.
On her part, Fildausi Adamu, a JSS III student of Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS), Kankia, appreciated the donor organisation for providing health protection as well as acquainting them with the knowledge to take care of themselves.
She explained that they had formed a nutrition club in the school where they were being taught the kind of food to eat to have a balanced diet, coupled with the iron supplements being given to them.
Similarly, Mohammed Aliyu and Isah Ali, who are primary six pupils of Sulaiman Modern Primary School, Kankia and members of the Nutrition Club who were being given the IFAS as well as the once-in-six month tablet for deworming, expressed satisfaction with the supplement which they said makes them eat well.
The school’s focal person, Zaradeen Abdulahi, explained that only children between the ages of 10-14 years were usually given the supplements once in a week.
He, however, decried the lack of clean portable water in the school as a major challenge and called on relevant authority and concerned citizens of the state to help the school with clean drinking water to ease the challenge while administering the drugs to about 1,000 pupils as they continue to experience the relevance of the project on their pupils.
