Bauchi, UNICEF begin distribution of supplements to combat anaemia

The Bauchi State Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund have launched a scale up of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) across the 20 local government areas to boost blood for pregnant women.

The initiative, according to UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Philomena Irene, was to scale up the Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) for pregnant women in the State.

Citing the report of National Demographic Health Information Survey (NDHIS) 2018, she said that only 23 percent of the 381,364 pregnant women in the state receive iron and folic acid supplementation, which is crucial in reducing the risk of low birth weight, maternal anaemia, and iron deficiency.

The State has received 134,280 bottles of MMS, while expecting more supply as the project implementation progresses, according to her.

Irene made this known during a one-day meeting organised by the Bauchi state government in collaboration with UNICEF and Alive and Thrive. She said that the life saving initiative is generously funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Government of Nigeria and the Bauchi state government.

“The scale up of multiple micronutrient supplements with the aim of improving pregnancy outcomes in Bauchi state,” she said.

According to Irene, the initiative is expected to strengthen the ante-natal platforms to deliver high impact maternal nutrition interventions in Bauchi state.

Irene further explained that the initiative will also strengthen the capacity of health workers to effectively forecast and update MMS administration to pregnant women in Bauchi state on the Logistics Health Management Information system (LHIMS) and DHIS 2 platforms.

She added that the scale up of MMS for pregnant women aligns with the Nigerian government’s plan to reduce anaemia among pregnant women to 40 per cent by 2025.

“It also feeds into the SDG 2030 goal of reducing anaemia among pregnant women by 50 percent by 2030”, Irene said.

The Nutrition Specialist said on its part, UNICEF will continue to support the Bauchi state government to mitigate the effects of anaemia in pregnancy and scale up MMS to all pregnant women.

The event was attended by Commissioner of Health and the Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Board (SPHCDB) and other critical stakeholders.