Kavango East health director Idah Mendai has called for urgent intervention in the alarming increase in malnutrition cases recorded in the region this year, which has thus far affected 14000 people and 15 deaths.

Mendai revealed the information on Friday during an engagement with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality ,Social Development and Family Affairs, the health directorate, and other stakeholders at Rundu.

Last year, the region recorded 2 716 people affected by malnutrition and 30 deaths, and teenage pregnancies are contributing to the high rate of incidences of malnutrition, hence the need for something to be done to curb the number of teenagers from falling pregnant.
‘We are seeing a lot of teenage girls giving birth, and leaving their little ones with the grandmothers ,who struggle to feed them with nutritious food and feed them with Oshikundu instead of milk,’ she said.

She said there is also a need to encourage young mothers to stay with their little ones, and breastfeed even up to a year.
Another factor contributing to malnutrition is “the inconsistency in therapeutic food supply, as well as the lack of refresher training for health-care workers and community care workers on managing malnutrition.” The director further said HIV patients and pregnant women are among those affected by malnutrition, noting that the region has enough therapeutic food at the moment, and to mitigate malnutrition, community awareness should be enhanced.

In response, the committee’s chairperson Becky Ndjoze-Ojo encouraged stakeholders in the region to work together to tackle some of the challenges the region is facing.

-Nampa