FMoH, USAID & World Bank train health workers in Plateau State 

By Ezekiel Dontinna 

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, has, in collaboration with the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and World Bank trained health workers on the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) in Plateau State.

  The training held at the APIS Suites and Gardens Rayfield Jos, the Plateau State capital, was supported by USAID funded Advancing Nutrition in Nigeria project and implemented by Helen Keller Intl was to build the capacity of nutrition focal persons at the health facilities in the sate on how to identify and manage children with acute malnutrition.

   The participants were drawn from the Ministry of health and its Department, Tertiary Institutions in the State as well as National and state facilitators and it was to be stepped down to health facilities at the LGA level.

    Earlier in his keynote address, the Plateau State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Cletus Bako Shurkuk, represented by the Ministry’s Director of Public Health,  Dr. Mafwalal Bunah Masok, expressed appreciation to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and Helen Keller Intl for selecting the State as one of the beneficiaries of the training.

    He said, “this training is timely considering the prevailing economic situation in the country and the management of acute malnutrition is critical as it will ensure that those affected get the desired care.

  “As a government, we remain committed to ensuring that, there is complete turn around in the health sector for improved care and health outcomes. So, I urged you all to participate actively in this training,” the Commissioner advised.

   On her part, the Nutrition Advisor with Helen Keller Intl, Pauline Adah, welcomed participants and urged them to pay attention to the various topics that would be discussed during the training.       She underscored the importance of the various interventions by Helen Keller Intl around nutrition and management of malnutrition in the country. 

  There were Resource Persons from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.